Can community-based, low-cost antenatal care in the third trimester of pregnancy reduce the incidence of low birth weight newborns?

OBJECTIVE To determine if community-based, low-cost interventions during third trimester of pregnancy can reduce the incidence of low birth weight babies. METHODS In a case control study, 290 pregnant women from a slum area were registered in the beginning of third trimester of pregnancy and provided full antenatal care comprising fortnightly check up, one IFA tablet daily, counseling for minimum one-and-a-half hour post-lunch rest in left lateral position, additional diet to ensure minimum 2,200 kcal per day, and management of clinical conditions, if any. An equal number of pregnant women belonging to the same slum area were registered as control who received routine antenatal services from the existing health care facilities. The birth weight of the babies in the two groups were recorded and compared. Test of significance and correlation coefficient were applied to the data. RESULTS Mean birth weight of the babies of the Subjects was 2.76 kg (SD 0.39) compared to mean birth weight of 2.57 kg (SD 0.36) of the babies in the Control group. Incidence of low birth weight babies among subjects who consumed minimum 2,400 kcal per day, had one-and-a-half hour post-lunch rest in left lateral position and who consumed one tablet of IFA (100 mg iron and 5 mg folic acid) per day during the last trimester of pregnancy was lower (17.6 %) as compared with women in the Control group (36.2 %). The difference in the mean birth weight of newborns of the two groups was statistically significant (t = 2.52, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Incidence of low birth weight babies can be significantly reduced by providing simple, low-cost care to pregnant women during the last trimester of pregnancy in the community setting.