Effect of ante-natal care on birth weight.

The mean birthweight of 373 fullterm, singleton infants born to those women who had been attending antenatal clinics was recorded. The results were compared with the findings from another group of 373 infants born to women who did not receive any antenatal care but who were properly matched with those in the 1st group according to age, parity, height, previous obstetric history, socioeconomic status, sex and gestational age of neonate, and month of delivery. The mean birthweight (mean +or- SD) in the antenatal group was 3.04 +or- 0.47 kg as compared to 2.85 +or- 0.48 kg for the other group. The difference was highly significant (P0.001). The incidence of low birthweight was significantly higher (P0.001) in the 2nd group (19%) as compared to the antenatal group (13%). Possible etiological factors have been discussed.