The Major Risk Factors Associated With High Low Birth Weight (Lbw) Rate In The Builsa District

Abstract

Low birth weight is a major contributor to perinatal and infant mortality and to problems in subsequent growth and development later in life. Three quarters of neonatal and half of all infant deaths in developing countries and over 80% of infant mortality in industrialised countries are associated with Low Birth Weight (LBW)1 The efforts of the Builsa District Health Administration to attain the Ministry of Health national targets of reducing LBW rate to 5% and infant mortality rate to 50%2 seems far remote if the causes the of high LBW rate in the district are not known. The main purpose of this study was therefore to determine the major risk factors associated with Low Birth Weight (LBW) in the Builsa district to enable appropriate interventions to be put in place to address them. A retrospective comparative analysis of 1,077 delivery records covering the period January 1998-June 2000 was carried out in five health facilities rendering maternity services in Builsa district in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Data on the diet history and workload of 33 mothers who delivered LBW babies and a random sample of 94 of the mothers who delivered Normal Birth Weight (NBW) babies between January and June 2000 was also obtained by questionnaire interviews.The main effect variables were age of mother, gestational weight gain, rfiaternal haemoglobin (Hb) level, parity, food intake and workload during pregnancy. The outcome measure was infant birth weight. The relationship between the effect variables among women who delivered LBW babies was compared with those who delivered NBW babies. The results confirmed high LBW rate in Builsa, the main causes of which appeared to be teenage deliveries, low Hb level (<10.0g/dl) during pregnancy, poor gestational weight gain and primiparous deliveries. Conclusion: Improvement in the risk assessment of pregnant women and the content of nutrition education during antenatal services as well as monitoring of female adolescent and maternal nutrition are required to reduce the high LBW rate in the district. Further studies are needed to investigate the contribution of observed high proportion of teenage deliveries and women with high workload during pregnancy to the high LBW rate in the district.