Abstract:
Background: Birth weight is the body weight of a baby at its birth and measured the first hour
after birth. World health organization has defined low birth weight as weight at birth of less than
2 500 g. Birth weight of the infant is to a great extent determined by factors that operate before
the infant born. Infant’s birth weight is considerable factor that determines childhood illness and
survival. Low birth weight is public health important pregnancy outcome as it is known to
increase the risk of adult onset diseases like type-2 diabetes, Hypertension etc. In 2016, it caused
nearly half of 5.4 million worldwide children deaths in neonatal period. In Ethiopia, Low birth
weight is an increasing and regional variation for low birth weight babies was seen but it is more
statistically significant from Gambella and Somali regions compared to other regions of the
country. Also, there is high prevalence of low birth weight and there are no data quantifying the
degree of risk associated with contributing factors in the study area.
Objective: To assess prevalence and associated factors of low birth weight among babies born in
Karamara Hospital, Jigjiga, Eastern Ethiopia, between March 1 and May 30, 2016.
Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted between April 1 and May 8, 2016.
A sample size of 572 mother-newborn pairs, selected by systematic random sampling technique,
was the study participants. Data were collected using questionnaires, nutritional status
assessment form, and interview and data extraction format from delivery. Data were managed by
using SPSS version 20.0 statistical software. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was
performed to test significance of association. Independent variables with p-value less than 0.05
under 95% CI were considered as having significant association with dependent variable.
Results: Among 564 newborn babies, almost one-fourth, 128 (22.9%) were found having low
birth weight while 436 (77.1%) were normal birth weight. Weight of the mothers <50kg
(AOR=7.505, 95%CI: 3.769-14.943), no ANC visit (AOR=5.145, 95%CI: 2.490-10.650),
divorced mothers (AOR=4.349, 95%CI: 1.475-12.820) and gestational age <37wks
(AOR=10.687, 95%CI: 4.220-27.065) had strongly significant associated with low birth weight.
Conclusions: This study showed that the prevalence of low birth weight is relatively higher than
the reported current estimate of low birth weight in Ethiopia
