Research Articles

Maternal Anthropometry as a Predictor of Birth Weight

Authors:

Abstract

Maternal nutritional status is closely associated with birth weight of the newborn and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The usefulness of maternal anthropometric parameters i.e. maternal weight (WT), maternal height (HT) and maternal body mass index (BMI) as predictors of low birth weight (LBW) was studied in 563 full term babies selected from 2056 singleton live births. The sample included normotensive adult pregnant women who had their first visit to the clinics ≤13 weeks of gestation. Most of the pregnant mothers (80%) were between 20 and 34 years of age. Over one third of the mothers were nulliparous, while 12% were multiparous (parity ≥4). The incidence of LBW was 8.7% among the studied sample. The mean WT, HT and BMI of the sample were 53 kg, 155 cm and 22 kgm-2 respectively. Significant positive correlations were observed with birth weight (BW) and WT (r=0.27), BW and BMI (r=0.24) and BW and HT (r=0.11). Polynomial regression analysis predicted LBW significantly with the critical limits of WT, HT and BMI at 50.3 kg, 154 cm and 21.1 kgm-2, with the sensitivity of 54%, 45% and 60% respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed the risk ratio (RR) for critical limits. Mothers with low WT (<50.3 kg), HT (<154 cm) and BMI (<21.1 kgm-2) showed 1.5, 1.4 and 1.8 fold LBW respectively than mothers having values above the cut-off. At the highest sensitivity of 80% WT, HT and BMI have a RR of 1.8, 0.9 and 2.1 respectively but only the BMI reached a significant level. The best predictor of birth weight with 80% sensitivity was BMI of 23.7 kgm-2 at or below 13 weeks of gestation.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tar.v21i1.2590


Tropical Agricultural Research Vol. 21(1): 89-98 (2009)

Keywords:

Maternal anthropometry
  • Year: 2009
  • Volume: 21 Issue: 1
  • Page/Article: 89-98
  • DOI: 10.4038/tar.v21i1.2590
  • Published on 20 Dec 2010
  • Peer Reviewed