Goshtasbi Nasab A, Majlesi F, Rahimi A,
Volume 59, Issue 5 (9 2001)
Abstract
The newborn's weight at birth is an important measure for newborn's health in all communities. Among developed countries, 70 percent of low birth weight (LBW) newborns are preterm. The corresponding figure for undeveloped countries is only 30 percent, there are also evidence of intra-uterine growth retardation among these countries. Among effective factors on LBW, maternal related factors have important role in promotion and improvement of infants and mother's health. This study is a descriptive-analytic one and was conducted cross-sectionally through a questionnair. The study population determined by simple random sampling from newborns under coverage of urban health centers in Kohgiloye and Boyerahmad province. Necessary data collected from existing medical and health records filed in the health centers. Among 285 newborns, 88.4 percent considered with normal weight, 4 percent with IBW and 11.6 percent with more than normal weight. 7.4 percent of cases were immature. 85.3 percent of the mothers in study population were in immune range of age for pregnancy and 7.6 percent of them were illiterate. Except the sex of newborn (P=0.0008) and gestational age at birth (P<0.001) none of the variables demonstrated a significant statistical relation with the birth weight. The results of this study confirm other research's findings and reveal that with improving material factors such as mother's age, employment and literacy, the factors which are effective on birth weight, will be dependent on physiological factors such as sex of newborn and gestational age at birth.
