Statistical Analysis of Factors Affecting the Weight of Babies at Birth

Abstract

This research work studied statistically those factors which determine the weight of a baby at birth. The data used in this research work was collected from the Prenatal and Postnatal Register of Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria. The data covered all births recorded from January 2009 to December 2013. Factors which determine birthweight are numerous but for this work, variables of greater influence were considered which include: Mother’s age, Parity, Method of Delivery and the Sex of the baby. By Chi-square Test Statistics, it was observed that the birthweight of a baby depends on the sex of the baby with a calculated value 12.14 and a critical value 7.81 0.5 level of significance. Also the method of delivery of a baby also proved to be a significant factor affecting birthweight with a calculated 50.90 and a critical value 12.6 By Chi-Square Test also, the mother’s age and parity shown not to be significant factors affecting birthweight with Chi-Square values 1.90, 1.001 and critical values of 12.6 and 7.81 The Z–Test Statistic was also applied to test for the significance difference between the mean birth weigh of male and female babies and it yielded a calculated value 6.48 and a critical value 1.96 at 0.5 level of significance which indicates that there is a significant difference between the mean birthweights of sex of the babies. Also by Z–Test also, method of delivery proved to be a significant factor affecting birthweight with a calculated value 5.41 and a critical value 1.96. Time Series Analysis was also employed to obtain the seasonal variations between the sex of babies and it was observed that more female babies are born during the third quarter and more male babies are born during the fourth quarter of the year. Also by Least Square Method of Regression Analysis, it was predicted that in the year 2014, the total number of male and female birth will be 140 and also in the year 2015, the total number of male and female birth will be 141.