Maternal Factors Contributing to Low Birth Weight Babies in an Urban Slum Community of Greater Mumbai

Research Question : What are the various maternal factors associated with low birth weight? Objective : 1) To find out the percentage of low birth weight in an urban slum community. 2) To study the maternal factors associated with low birth weight. Study design : Prospective, Observational, Community based study. Setting : An urban slum community Sahaji Nagar, situated in the outskirts of Mumbai. Study Population : 282 pregnant women selected from the community and followed up to delivery. Study variable : ANC visits, time of ANC registration, age of the mother, socio-economic status, spacing between two consecutive pregnancy, height, iron supplementation, rest in afternoon, bad obstetric history, education, religion, birth order and body mass index. Outcome variable : Low birth weight (LBW) babies. Statistical analysis : chi square test, multivariate analysis. Results : The percentage of LBW is 45.2%. The % of LBW is more in less no of ANC visits i.e. 1 to 4 (56.8%), late ANC registration i.e. 3rd trimester of pregnancy (50.7%), teenage pregnancy (67%), low socio-economic class i.e. class III and above (57.4%), spacing between two pregnancies less than 2 years (76.5%), increasing parity (67% of 5th order), height of mother less than 145 cms (60.6%), body mass index less than or equal to 18.6 (60.7%), incomplete treatment of iron and folic acid supplements (78.9%) and bad obstetric history (57.6%). The above factors are statistically significant on applying the chi-square test. On multivariate analysis, ranking of all the above factors is made and it is seen that the 1st four factors i.e. less ANC visits, late ANC registration, teenage pregnancy and low socio-economic class exercise a maximum impact on the outcome of pregnancy in ascending order i.e. 1 to 4. that bears the child. A multifactorial relationship exists between the environment, health, nutritional status, social status of a woman and the growth of the foetus. 2 All woman, whether their pregnancies are complicated or not, need good quality maternal health services during pregnancy, delivery and in the post partum period to ensure their health and that of their infants. While risk cannot be totally eliminated once pregnancy has begun but they can be reduced *Associate Professor, Department of PSM, Padmashree Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Navi Mumba