Background and objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of very low birth weight (VLBW) as well as to identify various maternal factors associated with VLBW among newborns delivered at a tertiary care teaching institute.
Methods: A hospital-based retrospective case-control study was done at the neonatal intensive care unit of GITAM Institute of medical sciences and research, Visakhapatnam from January 2019 to December 2021. Data were collected from a total of 250 mothers who delivered babies weighing <1.5 kilograms as cases, and age-matched 250 mothers who had babies weighing >2.5 kilograms as controls. Multiple factors that influenced VLBW were analyzed. These factors were maternal, neonatal and delivery factors.
Findings: The prevalence of VLBW babies was 2.5%. VLBW was high in babies of mothers from lower to lower-middle-class (68%), babies born to mothers with parity 4 or more (39.6%), anemic mothers (P<0.0001), preterm babies (62%) (P<0.0001), born through cesarean delivery (65.6%). Also, VLBW proportion was lower among babies born to mothers who took folic acid (IFA) tablets compared to others, (P<0.0001).
Conclusion: Several factors like illiteracy status of mothers, number of living children, increased parity, inadequate consumption of IFA tablets, anemia during pregnancy were found to be associated with low consumption of eggs, milk and fruits as well as less weight gain during pregnancy. Most of these factors are modifiable and can be managed easily by providing adequate antenatal care.