Home Print this page Email this page Small font sizeDefault font sizeIncrease font size
Users Online: 3441

 

Home About us Editorial board Search Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Advertise Contacts Login 
     
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2012  |  Volume : 53  |  Issue : 4  |  Page : 200-205

Maternal characteristics influencing birth weight and infant weight gain in the first 6 weeks post-partum: A cross-sectional study of a post-natal clinic population


1 Department of Paediatrics, University of Jos, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria
2 Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Jos, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria
3 Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, 720 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta Georgia 30310, USA

Correspondence Address:
Christopher S Yilgwan
Department of Paediatrics, University of Jos/Jos University Teaching Hospital, PMB 2076, Jos
Nigeria
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/0300-1652.107553

Rights and Permissions

Background: To investigate the relationship between certain maternal characteristic and infant birth weight and weight gain in puerperal women seen at a tertiary health centre. Materials and Methods: We measured the weight of 318, randomly selected infants after a complete physical examination at birth and at 6 weeks postnatal using standard procedures and related them to certain maternal characteristics. Results: There were 318 women and baby pairs. Maternal ages ranged from 16 to 42 years, with a mean of 25.6±1.3 years. Mean birth weight of babies was 3.10±1.89 kg; mean gestational age was 36±4.6 weeks, with 9.4% and 3.0% of babies born having low birth weight or Macrosomia respectively. Mothers from the North of the country, multiparity and systolic and/or diastolic hypertensions were factors associated with low birth weight. At 6 weeks, 27.1% of infants failed to gain weight as expected for their age. Similarly, 37.0% of infants born to mothers with some tertiary education showed slowed weight gain compared with those who had secondary (19.2%) or primary (14.7%) education, P=0.03. Maternal weight at delivery positively correlated with birth weight of the infant (r=0.357, P<0.001). However, maternal weight and blood pressure negatively correlated with infant weight gain at 6 weeks post-delivery. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that certain maternal characteristics could play a role in the birth weight and early infant weight gain, and are preventable through simple public health approaches.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed7675    
    Printed257    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded339    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 8    

Recommend this journal