Cargando…

Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana

OBJECTIVES: Weight at birth is usually considered as an indicator of the health status of a given society. As a result this study was designed to investigate the association between birth weight and maternal factors such as gestational weight gain, pre—pregnancy BMI and socio—economic status in Nort...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Abubakari, Abdulai, Kynast-Wolf, Gisela, Jahn, Albrecht
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4539219/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26281013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135641
_version_ 1782386085441044480
author Abubakari, Abdulai
Kynast-Wolf, Gisela
Jahn, Albrecht
author_facet Abubakari, Abdulai
Kynast-Wolf, Gisela
Jahn, Albrecht
author_sort Abubakari, Abdulai
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Weight at birth is usually considered as an indicator of the health status of a given society. As a result this study was designed to investigate the association between birth weight and maternal factors such as gestational weight gain, pre—pregnancy BMI and socio—economic status in Northern Ghana. METHODS: The study was a facility-based cross-sectional survey conducted in two districts in the Northern region of Ghana. These districts were purposively sampled to represent a mix of urban, peri—urban and rural population. The current study included 419 mother-infant pairs who delivered at term (37–42 weeks). Mother’s height, pre-pregnancy weight and weight changes were generated from the antenatal records. Questionnaires were administered to establish socio-economic and demographic information of respondents. Maternal factors associated with birth weight were examined using multiple and univariate regressions. RESULTS: The mothers were generally well nourished before conception (Underweight 3.82%, Normal 57.76%, Overweight 25.06% and Obesity 13.37%) but approximately half of them could not gain adequate weight according to Institute of Medicine recommendations (Low weight gain 49.64%, Adequate weight gain 42.96% and Excessive weight gain 7.40%). Infants whose mothers had excess weight gain were 431g (95% CI 18–444) heavier compared to those whose mothers gained normal weight, while those whose mothers gained less were 479g (95% CI -682– (-276) lighter. Infants of mothers who were overweight and obese before conception were 246g (95% CI 87–405) and 595g (95% CI 375–815) respectively heavier than those of normal mothers, whereas those whose mothers were underweight were 305g (95% CI -565 –(-44) lighter. The mean birth weight observed was 2.98 ± 0.68 kg. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that pre-pregnancy body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy influence birth weight. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on counseling and assisting pregnant women to stay within the recommended weight gain ranges.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4539219
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-45392192015-08-24 Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana Abubakari, Abdulai Kynast-Wolf, Gisela Jahn, Albrecht PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVES: Weight at birth is usually considered as an indicator of the health status of a given society. As a result this study was designed to investigate the association between birth weight and maternal factors such as gestational weight gain, pre—pregnancy BMI and socio—economic status in Northern Ghana. METHODS: The study was a facility-based cross-sectional survey conducted in two districts in the Northern region of Ghana. These districts were purposively sampled to represent a mix of urban, peri—urban and rural population. The current study included 419 mother-infant pairs who delivered at term (37–42 weeks). Mother’s height, pre-pregnancy weight and weight changes were generated from the antenatal records. Questionnaires were administered to establish socio-economic and demographic information of respondents. Maternal factors associated with birth weight were examined using multiple and univariate regressions. RESULTS: The mothers were generally well nourished before conception (Underweight 3.82%, Normal 57.76%, Overweight 25.06% and Obesity 13.37%) but approximately half of them could not gain adequate weight according to Institute of Medicine recommendations (Low weight gain 49.64%, Adequate weight gain 42.96% and Excessive weight gain 7.40%). Infants whose mothers had excess weight gain were 431g (95% CI 18–444) heavier compared to those whose mothers gained normal weight, while those whose mothers gained less were 479g (95% CI -682– (-276) lighter. Infants of mothers who were overweight and obese before conception were 246g (95% CI 87–405) and 595g (95% CI 375–815) respectively heavier than those of normal mothers, whereas those whose mothers were underweight were 305g (95% CI -565 –(-44) lighter. The mean birth weight observed was 2.98 ± 0.68 kg. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that pre-pregnancy body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy influence birth weight. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on counseling and assisting pregnant women to stay within the recommended weight gain ranges. Public Library of Science 2015-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4539219/ /pubmed/26281013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135641 Text en © 2015 Abubakari et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Abubakari, Abdulai
Kynast-Wolf, Gisela
Jahn, Albrecht
Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana
title Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana
title_full Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana
title_fullStr Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana
title_short Maternal Determinants of Birth Weight in Northern Ghana
title_sort maternal determinants of birth weight in northern ghana
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4539219/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26281013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135641
work_keys_str_mv AT abubakariabdulai maternaldeterminantsofbirthweightinnorthernghana
AT kynastwolfgisela maternaldeterminantsofbirthweightinnorthernghana
AT jahnalbrecht maternaldeterminantsofbirthweightinnorthernghana