Prevalence of low birth weight and associated factors among neonates born at Bale Zone,Oromia Region, Ethiopia 2019

Abstract

Abstract Background: Low birth weight continues to be a significant public health problem globally and is associated with a range of both short- and long term consequences. Ethiopia, having an infant mortality rate of 59/1000 live births and has limited data on birth weight estimates as most deliveries take place at home leading to a highly biased maternal subjective inclusion of a “very small baby” in the reports. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of low birth weight among neonates delivered at Raitu district health facilities, Bale zone ,Ethiopia. Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional Study design was applied from September 01 to October 15, 2019 among 374 neonates consecutively selected at Rayitu district public health facilities. The collected data was coded and entered into Epidata version 3 and exported to SPSS version 20 for data analysis. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between dependant and independent variables. In bi-variable analysis co-variates with P-value of less than 0.25 was included in malty aviate analysis. The final model was interpreted using AOR with 95%; CI at P-value of less than 0.05. Result: The prevalence of low birth weight at the study area was 5.3%. Among the 374 singleton live births in the study, 20 were low birth weight. Having family size >4 was 3.72 times (3.71(95%; CI; (1.34-10.38)) more likely has low birth weight. Mothers whose MUAC was <22cm were 4.96 times (AOR=4.96; 95%; CI (1.58-15.51)) more likely deliver low birth weight infants. Mothers whose CHO FFS of poor was 3.28 times(AOR=3.24; 95%;CI;(1.03-10.39)) times more likely give low birth weight. Mothers who has no ANC visit was 4.49 times (AOR=4.49; 95%;CI; (1.38-14.55) times more likely delivered LBW infants. Conclusion: The prevalence of low birth weight in the study area was comparatively lower than that of countrywide figure. Ethnicity, Family size, Nutritional status of the mother (low mid upper arm circumference), Antenatal visit and Carbohydrate rich food consumption score were the independent factors associated with low birth weight.