STUDY OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT NEONATES

Low birth weight neonates with 2000g or less birth weight constitute about 10% of live births with perinatal mortality as high as 32.4%. Perinatal morbidity is 19.3% with asphyxia neonatorum and neonatal jaundice heading the list. Epidemiological maternal factors include extremes of age and parity, lack of antenatal care, low socioeconomic status, illiteracy and underweight short women. Etiologic factors are obstetric complications, hypertensive disorders, systemic diseases or idiopathic. The scope of preventive measures include improvement of economic status and education about health and safe pregnancy. Proper antenatal care for early detection of high risk cases, adequate and timely management of complications and adequate facilities for neonatal care can reduce the perinatal morbidity and mortality.