Low Birth weight

Mahad Ali
JHSC
 Definition

 According to WHO, a low birth weight baby is one

with a birth weight of less than 2500 gm within
the 1st hour of life, before significant postnatal
weight loss has occurred.
Contd.

 Low birth weight < 2500gm

 Very low birth weight < 1500gm

 Extremely low birth weight <1000 gm

 Contd.
There are two main overlapping categories:
 The gestationaly premature (or preterm) born before term
 Underweight full term baby
 Small for dates
 Combination can occur
Premature Babies(37 weeks)

 These babies are born too early, before 37

weeks of gestation.
 Their intrauterine growth may be normal.
 Their wt, length and development may be
within normal limits for the duration of
gestation.
 Given a good neonatal care, these babies
can catch up growth & by 2 or 3 years of
age
Small for date

 These may be born at term or preterm

 It is clearly the result of retarded intrauterine
fetal growth.
Incidence of LBW

 WHO estimates that globally about 25 million low birth

weight babies are born each year, consisting 17% of all
births, nearly 95% of them in developing countries.
Causes of low birth weight

Maternal:
1. Malnutrition
2. Severe anemia
3. Heavy physical work during pregnancy
4. Hypertension
5. Malaria
6. Pre-eclampsia
CONTD.

7. Smoking
8. Very young age
9. Close birth spacing
10. High parity
11. Low economic status
12. Low educational status
13. Infection-Acute & chronic such as UTI,
RTI/STI
14. Drugs- narcotics
Contd
Fetal cause
 Fetal abnormalities
 Intrauterine infections
 Chromosomal abnormality
 Multiple gestation
Obstetric cause
 Placental insufficiency
 Placental abnormality
 Hydramnios
 Premature rupture of membrane
Leading cause of death in
LBW
 Malformation
 Pulmonary hemorrhage
 Intracranial bleeding, secondary to anoxia
or birth trauma
 Pneumonia & other infections
Factors responsible for LBW

 Repeated pregnancy
 Adolescent pregnancy
 Heavy physical labor
 Smoking
 Poor sanitation
 Low socio-economic condition
 Low educational status
 Maternal malnutrition
 Infection
Public health importance of LBW

 Low birth is one of the most serious

challenges in maternal and child health in
both developed and developing countries.
 Public health significance due to:
 A) its high incidence associated with
mental retardation
 High risk of perinatal, infant mortality
and morbidity.
CONTD.

 Very high cost of special care and

intensive care
 LBW is the single most important factor
for determining the survival chances of
the child.
Consequence of LBW
A) Morbidity:
immediate
 Intrauterine hypoxia
 Respiratory difficulties, birth asphyxia
 Feeding difficulties- Unable to suck or swallow
 Hypoglycemia
 Hypothermia
 Hyperbilirubinemia
 Susceptible to infection
 Hemorrhage-intraventicular
Contd.

Late
 Deafness
 Blindness
 Hearing disabilities
 Chronic lung disease
 Mental retardation
 Mortality: mortality is 20 times higher
than normal
Preventive measures

 Direct intervention measures:

 Supplementary feeding program
 Distribution of iron and folic acid tablets
 Controlling infections-malaria, rubella
and syphilitic infection
 Early detection
 & treatment of medical disorders such as-
hypertension, diabetes.
Contd.

 Indirect Intervention measures

Family planning-
 Can help to reduce the problem by
influencing the mothers age at pregnancy,
parity and spacing the births
 Prenatal advice- Avoiding of heavy
workload during pregnancy, avoiding
smoking, improving health and nutrition
and availability of health & social
services.
THANK YOU