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Incidence and recurrence risk of low birth weight in Northern Tanzania : A registry based study

Mvunta, Miriam H. ; Mboya, Innocent B. LU orcid ; Msuya, Sia E. ; John, Beatrice ; Obure, Joseph and Mahande, Michael J. (2019) In PLoS ONE 14(4). p.1-10
Abstract

Background Low birth weight (LBW) is an important indicator of newborn survival. It is associated with higher risk of morbidity, mortality and long-term health consequences. Little has been done on incidence and recurrence risk of LBW in developing countries including Tanzania. This study aimed to determine the incidence and recurrence risk of LBW among women who delivered at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), Tanzania. Methods A hospital-based prospective cohort study was conducted using maternally-linked data from KCMC birth registry between 2000 and 2010. A total of 26,191 women delivered singleton live babies during the study period. Of these, 4,603 (17.6%) had subsequent pregnancies. The recurrence risk of LBW was... (More)

Background Low birth weight (LBW) is an important indicator of newborn survival. It is associated with higher risk of morbidity, mortality and long-term health consequences. Little has been done on incidence and recurrence risk of LBW in developing countries including Tanzania. This study aimed to determine the incidence and recurrence risk of LBW among women who delivered at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), Tanzania. Methods A hospital-based prospective cohort study was conducted using maternally-linked data from KCMC birth registry between 2000 and 2010. A total of 26,191 women delivered singleton live babies during the study period. Of these, 4,603 (17.6%) had subsequent pregnancies. The recurrence risk of LBW was estimated using a multivariable log-binomial regression model. A robust variance estimator was used to account for correlation between births of the same mother. Results The incidence of LBW was 7.1%. The absolute recurrence risk of LBW was 28.1%. This corresponds to a relative risk (RR) of 5.08-fold, 95% CI 4.01–6.45). Antenatal care visits (<4) (RR: 5.00; 95% CI 3.58–6.98), preterm birth (RR: 4.55; 95% CI 3.21–6.43), positive HIV status (RR: 7.49: 95% CI 3.91–14.36) and preeclampsia (RR: 4.37; 2.60–7.35) in the first pregnancy were important predictors of LBW recurrence. Conclusion The incidence of LBW and its recurrence was high in the study population. Women with previous history of LBW had higher risk of recurrent LBW in subsequent pregnancies. Identification of factors associated with LBW recurrence, proper post-partum care management to ensure Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy, Pre-conception care and close clinical follow-up during subsequent pregnancy may help reduce LBW recurrence.

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author
; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
PLoS ONE
volume
14
issue
4
article number
e0215768
pages
1 - 10
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85064835914
  • pmid:31009497
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0215768
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Mvunta et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
id
3e378458-c959-4ae0-b513-c0447d1660fe
date added to LUP
2022-09-29 10:08:24
date last changed
2024-09-20 04:58:28
@article{3e378458-c959-4ae0-b513-c0447d1660fe,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background Low birth weight (LBW) is an important indicator of newborn survival. It is associated with higher risk of morbidity, mortality and long-term health consequences. Little has been done on incidence and recurrence risk of LBW in developing countries including Tanzania. This study aimed to determine the incidence and recurrence risk of LBW among women who delivered at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), Tanzania. Methods A hospital-based prospective cohort study was conducted using maternally-linked data from KCMC birth registry between 2000 and 2010. A total of 26,191 women delivered singleton live babies during the study period. Of these, 4,603 (17.6%) had subsequent pregnancies. The recurrence risk of LBW was estimated using a multivariable log-binomial regression model. A robust variance estimator was used to account for correlation between births of the same mother. Results The incidence of LBW was 7.1%. The absolute recurrence risk of LBW was 28.1%. This corresponds to a relative risk (RR) of 5.08-fold, 95% CI 4.01–6.45). Antenatal care visits (&lt;4) (RR: 5.00; 95% CI 3.58–6.98), preterm birth (RR: 4.55; 95% CI 3.21–6.43), positive HIV status (RR: 7.49: 95% CI 3.91–14.36) and preeclampsia (RR: 4.37; 2.60–7.35) in the first pregnancy were important predictors of LBW recurrence. Conclusion The incidence of LBW and its recurrence was high in the study population. Women with previous history of LBW had higher risk of recurrent LBW in subsequent pregnancies. Identification of factors associated with LBW recurrence, proper post-partum care management to ensure Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy, Pre-conception care and close clinical follow-up during subsequent pregnancy may help reduce LBW recurrence.</p>}},
  author       = {{Mvunta, Miriam H. and Mboya, Innocent B. and Msuya, Sia E. and John, Beatrice and Obure, Joseph and Mahande, Michael J.}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1--10}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Incidence and recurrence risk of low birth weight in Northern Tanzania : A registry based study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215768}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0215768}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}