Risk factors for low birth weight in Nepali infants

A detailed information on a total of 448 consecutive Nepali births which occurred between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1994 was collected from the birth registers of the Khasi-Jaintia Presbetyrian Synod Hospital of Shillong, Meghalaya. After the exclusion of still and twin births, and the cases of missing information of birth weight, 418 single live births were considered to find out the distribution of birth weight and the risk factors of low birth weight (LBW) among the Nepali babies of this state. The incidence of LBW was 21.53%. The results of univariate analysis revealed that sex, maternal age, parity, gestation period, economic condition and maternal education were significantly related to the incidence of LBW. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that all the above mentioned factors had independent risk for LBW except the economic condition and father's education. Thus, the present results suggest conducting further studies among other ethnic groups of North-East India to understand the problem of LBW at the population level which may help to formulate an effective maternal and child health care program in this region.