Factors Affecting Birth Weight Research Articles

Literature Review : Factors Affecting Birth Weight and its Management

The literature review has the aim of reviewing and comparing the similarities of several research results regarding the factors that influence the occurrence of low birth weight babies and their management methods in several hospitals in Indonesia. Literature review method with this study was carried out by conducting a literature review by searching several national journals. Literature search using several keywords, namely "low birthweight (LBW)", "infants", "management of LBW" for 10 literature publications from 2012-2022. Article searches used Sciencedirect, Garuda Portal, Mendeley and Google Scholar for articles with quantitative and qualitative designs. Results Of the ten articles stated that LBW occurs not only in premature babies but normal babies can also experience LBW. LBW is not only influenced by the mother's knowledge but other factors such as nutrition, pregnancy interval, age, parity, lifestyle, and pregnancy complications. Discussion and Conclusion: Here the role of health workers and parents in handling LBW is very important without having to be expensive and can be done at home so that it can help increase LBW with exclusive breastfeeding, prevent hypothermia, prevent infection and keep the baby healthy so that stunting does not occur.

Factors affecting birth weight and stillbirth in sows housed in a tropical environment.

This study analysed data from a commercial swine herd in Thailand equipped with a free-farrowing housing system, comprising 17,196 piglets from 1318 litters, to explore the impact of sow and litter characteristics on the piglet birth weight and the incidence of stillbirth. The piglets were classified into four groups based on the total number of piglets born per litter (TB): ≤9 (n = 1434), 10-12 (n = 3232), 13-15 (n = 6537) and ≥16 (n = 5993). Sows were classified into four groups based on parity number: 1, 2-4, 5-7 and ≥8. The piglets were categorized into quartiles based on their birth order ranking: Q1 (n = 4786), Q2 (n = 4143), Q3 (n = 3808) and Q4 (n = 4456). Piglet birth weight was individually measured before colostrum ingestion. On average, TB, the number of live-born piglets and the incidence of stillbirth were 13.1 ± 3.7, 11.5 ± 3.8 and 6.3%, respectively. Among these litters, 26.6% had TB numbers ≥16. The average piglet birth weight was 1.37 ± 0.36 kg, with 18.3% of piglets weighing ≤1.0 kg at birth. Piglet birth weight was influenced by birth order ranking, as Q4 piglets were found to be heavier than piglets born in Q1-Q3 (p < .001). Moreover, the percentage of piglets with a birth weight of ≤1.0 kg increased from 5.9% in litters with TB of ≤9-25.3% in litters with TB of ≥16 (p < .001). Additionally, primiparous sows had lower piglet birth weights compared to sows with parity numbers 2-4, 5-7 and ≥8 (p < .001). Piglets born in the fourth quartile (Q4) had a higher risk of stillbirth compared to those born in the first (Q1), second (Q2) and third (Q3) quartiles (12.5% vs. 2.2%, 4.1% and 6.6%, respectively, p < .001). The incidence of stillbirth in litters with TB ≥16 was also higher than that in litters with TB ≤9 and 10-12 (p < .05). Furthermore, sows with parity numbers ≥8 had a higher incidence of stillbirth (9.7%) compared to primiparous sows (4.0%, p < .001), sows with 2-4 parity (5.2%, p < .001) and sows with 5-7 parity (7.6%, p = .003). In summary, a high incidence of stillbirth was found in piglets born in the last quartile of litters, in litters with >16 piglets and for sows with parity numbers ≥8. Piglets born in the last quartile of litters were heavier than those born in the first to third quartiles.

Antenatal care and its association with pregnancy outcomes at tertiary care hospital, Jhalawar

Background: Low birth weight is a major public health problem in India. Amongst several many factors affecting birth weight, the two factors are demographic characteristics of mothers and utilization of antenatal care services after timely registration of pregnancy. Aims were to access ANC and its association with pregnancy outcomes at Jhalawar medical college, Jhalawar Rajasthan. Methods: All the pregnant women were admitted to the maternity ward for delivery in November 2022. The interview consisted of a demographic characteristic of mothers, utilization of ANC services, live birth weight of the baby, and records of the mother from the hospital. Data collection was done from the maternity ward and vaccination site. It was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. Results: Among mothers who registered in 1st trimester, 81.6% delivered at full term, 77% of new-born were normal birth weight and only 8.5% of new-born needed NICU admission; compared to those who registered in 2nd and 3rd trimesters delivered at full term 67.1% and 55% respectively, 63.3% and 50% new-born had normal birth weight and NICU admission needed by 17.7% and 55% new-born needed NICU admission respectively. Those mothers who received ≥4 ANC visits had delivered 186 (78.8%) new-born with normal birth weight and required NICU admission for 24 (10.2%) new-born as compared to those who had &lt;4 ANC visits delivered 109 (64.9.8%) new-born with normal birth weight. Conclusions: Early registration of pregnancy prevents chances of LBW baby, long stay in NICU also leads to a reduction in preterm delivery.

117 Factors affecting birth weights in Thoroughbred foals born in Kentucky, United Kingdom, and Australia

Kentucky (KY), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia (AUS) are major breeding regions for Thoroughbreds. Birth weights (BW) are commonly measured in each region and are perceived as important parameters for assessing foal health and future athletic ability. This study was conducted to evaluate how foal BW is affected by gender, mare age, parity, month of birth (MOB), and geographic location. Birth weight was measured with electronic scales in 3,062 foals over multiple years in KY (12 farms, 2013–2018, n = 801), UK (6 farms, 2007–2019, n = 934) and AUS (1 farm, 2013–2019, n = 1,327). Differences between gender were measured using unpaired t-tests and differences related to month of birth, mare age, parity, and location were measured using a one-way ANOVA. All results are reported as mean ± SD. BW was greater in KY foals (56.5 ± 6.6 kg) compared with UK (55.3 ± 6.5 kg; P < 0.01), or AUS (53.9 ± 6.6 kg; P < 0.01). AUS foals were also smaller than UK foals (P < 0.01). Fillies were on average 1.2 kg smaller than colts in each region (P < 0.01). Parity significantly affected BW in each region. Primiparous (para 1) mares produced smaller foals in all regions compared with multiparous mares that produced 2 foals (para 2) or multiparous mares that produced morethan 2 foals (para > 2). Foals out of para 2 mares were smaller than foals out of para > 2 mares (P < 0.01). In all regions combined, foals out of para 1 mares (48.7 ± 5.8 kg) were 5.4 kg lighter than para 2 (54.1 ± 5.8 kg) (P < 0.01) and 8.6 kg lighter than foals out of para > 2 mares (57.2 ± 5.8 kg) (P < 0.01). Mare age was highly correlated with parity (r = 0.89). Age of primiparous mares (5.7 ± 1.3 y) was unaffected by region. In all regions, month of birth affected BW with foals born earlier in the season being lighter than those born in subsequent months. However, most of this difference was due to a larger proportion of para 1 and para 2 mares foaling earlier in the season. BW in multiparous (para > 2) mares was not affected by MOB in any region except the UK where para > 2 foals born in January were smaller than in all subsequent MOB (P < 0.01). Although region and gender affected BW, by far the greatest effect was due to parity. Foals out of para 1 and para 2 mares were on average 15% and 5% lighter at birth than para > 2 mares in each region. These large differences warrant further investigation.

Maternal Factors Affecting Birth Weight of New Born Babies Born in Combined Military Hospital Dhaka

Introduction: Low birth weight (LBW) is one of the pernicious outcomes of pregnancy. To recognize the factors contributing to LBW is therefore of vital significance. But due attention had not been paid to address the issue. This study was carried out to candle the light on maternal demographic and health services factors on birth weight of a newborn baby. Objective: To depict the pattern of birth weight of newborn babies born at CMH Dhaka and to ascertain selected demographic (age, height) pattern and utilization of health service factors of the mothers. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Dhaka from September to December 2011 among 110 respondents. Data were collected by interview using a semi-structured questionnaire and were checked, edited, coded, categorized, cleaned and analyzed by using SPSS version 16. Results: Mothers’ age ranged from 19 to 36 years. Highest 43.6% of mothers belonged to the 20-25 years age group. Teenage mothers were 15.5%. Mothers above 25 years of age gave birth to higher percentage of average weight babies (88.9%) and teenaged (&lt;20 years) mothers gave birth to a higher percentage of LBW babies (17.7%). About 44.5% mothers belonged to height 150-155 cm. Short stature mothers with height 150 cm and below were 16.4% and produced more (33.3%) LBW babies. As the height of the mothers increases, the babies born with better birth weight. The result was statistically significant (p&lt;0.05). All the mothers had antenatal check-up. Highest number of mothers had 4-6 visits. Rate of LBW babies were found highest (31.8%) among the mothers who had minimum number of visits (1-3 visits). Mothers with 7-9 visits had lowest number of LBW babies (4.3%). Proportion of higher birth weight babies (&gt;3500 gm) increased as the number of visits increased. The result was statistically significant (p &lt; .05). Conclusion: All these findings suggests that a substantial evidence of demographic factors like age of the mother during pregnancy and height of the mother and utilizing the health care facilities for antenatal care has an effect on birth weight. Ensuring health care facilities and addressing demographic factors like age of women during marriage, condition can be improved. JAFMC Bangladesh. Vol 18, No 1 (June) 2022: 26-29

Factors affecting birth weight and pre-weaning growth rate of lambs from the Icelandic sheep breed

In Iceland, the sheep production year is characterized by lambing in May, weaning and slaughtering in September and October. Our hypothesis is that modelling interrelationships of production parameters will aid in controlling variation in important outputs like weaning weight. We analyzed data from twelve production years in our experimental farm with total records of 9661lambs born to 1847 dams. In the whole dataset, 7.4 % of the lambs were born as singles, 78.1 % as twins, 13.7 % as triplets and 0.8 % as quads. Surrogate mothers fostered 5.5 % of the lambs.

Analysis of Factors Affecting Birth Weight Using Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN)

The hight mortality rate in newborns is caused by the fact that many babies are born with low birth weight. LBW is one of the factors of infant mortality in Indonesia. Mitra Medika hospital Bandar Kippa is one of the pregnant women who has a Low Birth Weight (LBW) baby. Prevention and treatment of pregnant women when they know that they will give birth to a baby withlow birth weight is very necessary, in order to minimize death during the bieth process. So it is hoped that the existence of a factor analysis that affects birth weight in babies cas help to identify the condition of the baby in pregnant women before the baby is born. In this study, Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) method was used with 150 data and 7 features including maternal age, maternal weight, maternal height, maternal hemoglobin, gestational distance, parity and maternal education. To get the best accuracy results, training data and testing data are shared using K-Means Clustering. Furthermore, an analysis of the factors that affect BBL using the Probabilistic Neural Network method is carried out, therefore it can be obtained that the probability value affecting BBL is found in the mother’s weight of 0,856 with the highest output layer value in the normal class of 6,741 and an accuracy value of 88,67.

Factors Affecting Birth Weight And Growth Rate In Friesian X Bunaji Calves

Calving records from 1984 - 1989 were studied to determine the influence of rearing method, sex of calf, season of birth, dam breed and year of birth on body weight at birth, 3,6 and 12 months of age in Friesian x Bunaji calves. The mean weights of calves at birth, 3, 6 and 12 months of age were 22.0, 68.2, 96.7 and 137.4 kg, respectively. Sex of calf had a significant effect, with male calves being heavier than the females by 1.2, 5.9 and 9.7 kg at birth, 3 and 6 months of age respectively. The effect of season of birth on calf body weights was not significant except at 6 months of age, when calves born during the wet season were heavier (P&lt;0.01) than those born in the harmattan period by 9.5 kg. Year of birth had a highly significant effect (P&lt;0.01) on calf weights from birth to yearling. Method of rearing and dam breed had no significant influence on all the weights. The results suggest the need to develop correction factors for standardisation of weight records when comparing dams on the basis of body weights of their calves.

Is there a correlation between Placental Thickness and Fetal Birth Weight?

Backgroung: Estimating fetal weigh essential in our daily obstetric practice, especially at third trimester. It guides obstetricians to make up their decisions regarding time and mode of delivery.One of the most important factors affecting birth weight can be attributed to placental adequacy and uterine environment. The placental thickness is one of the characteristics of the placenta therefore, we decided to study the correlation between the placental thickness and the fetal birth weight. Methods: this is a cross sectional prospective observational study that was conducted on 200 uncomplicated pregnant women in their third trimester. Ultrasound was done for measuring the placental thickness (PT), bi-partial diameter (BPD), head circumference (HC), femur length (FL), abdominal circumference (AC) and estimated fetal weight. After delivery the birth weight was measured. Apgar score, NICU admission and Neonatal morbidity and mortality were observed. Results: The study found that there were positive significant correlations between placental thickness and estimated fetal birth weight r=0.899 and between placental thickness and actual birth weight r=0.933 both with p value <0.001.Conclusion: Placental thickness can be used as a promising parameter in predicting expected fetal birth weight (EFBW) with other fetal parameters during antenatal follow up by ultrasound.

Genetic parameters and principal components analysis of breeding value for birth and weaning weight in Egyptian buffalo.

ObjectiveThe objectives of the current study were to study the main environmental factors affecting birth weight (BW) and weaning weight (WW), estimate variance components, genetic parameters and genetic trend and to evaluate the variability and relationships among breeding value of BW and WW using principal components analysis (PCA).MethodsA total of 16,370 records were collected from 8,271 buffalo calves. Genetic parameters and breeding values were estimated using a bivariate animal model which includes direct, maternal and permanent maternal effects. These estimates were standardized and used in PCA.ResultsThe direct heritability estimates were 0.06 and 0.41 for BW and WW, respectively whereas direct maternal heritability values were 0.03 and 0.14, respectively. Proportions of variance due to permanent environmental effects of dam were 0.455 and 0.280 for BW and WW respectively. The genetic correlation between BW and WWs was weak approaching zero, but the maternal correlation was 0.26. The first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) were estimated utilizing the standardized breeding values according to Kaiser method. The total variance explained by the first two PCs was 71.17% in which 45.91% and 25.25% were explained by PC1 and PC2, respectively. The direct breeding values of BW were related to PC2 but those of WW and maternal breeding values of BW and WWs were associated with PC1.ConclusionThe results of genetic parameters and PCA indicate that BW and WWs were not genetically correlated and improving growth traits of Egyptian buffaloes could be achieved using WW without any adverse effect by BW.

The Effect of Some Environmental Factors on the Birth Weight in Anatolian Merino Sheep

In this study, the data of 1510 lambs born in a private sheep farm in Eregli district of Konya in 2018-2019 were evaluated. Birth type, birth times, birth weight and sex of lambs were investigated in this study. 892 of the lambs were born in 2018 and 618 of them were born in 2019. A total of 1510 lambs were born, 699 of them were born in singles, 761 in twins and 50 in triplets. The total number of sheep is 1096. 681 of the lambs were male and 829 were female. Of the environmental factors affecting birth weight, while the effect of the year was statistically insignificant (p &lt;0.05), the effect of season, type of birth and sex was significant (p &lt;0.01). Lambs born in spring have more live weight than those born in other seasons. The live weight of male lambs is higher than that of females, whereas the weight of single born lambs is higher than that of twins and triplets.

Maternal Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Birth Weight of New Born Babies Born in Combined Military Hospital Dhaka

Background: Low birth weight is one of the deleterious outcomes of pregnancy. To identify the factors contributing to LBW is therefore of paramount importance. But a very little attention had been paid to address the riddle. This effort is to candle the light on maternal socioeconomic factors on birth weight.&#x0D; Objective: To delineate the pattern of birth weight of newborn babies delivered in CMH Dhaka and ascertains selected demographic, socio-economic characteristics of the mothers.&#x0D; Methods &amp; Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Combined Military Hospital Dhaka from September to December 2011 on 110 respondents. Data were collected by interview using semi- structured questionnaire. Data were checked, edited, coded, categorized, cleaned and analyzed using software (SPSS version 16)&#x0D; Results: All the mothers were educated. Mothers who passed SSC exam, 35.5% were highest. Lowest education level was primary, 10%. SSC and below educated mother gave birth to 16.75 LBW babies. The average birth weight babies, 94.74% were delivered by HSC and higher educated mothers. All LBW babies were born other than officer's family. The mean monthly income was Tk 16533. 33% LBW babies born who had family income _&lt; Tk. 10,000, 52.3% higher birth weight babies had family income _&gt; Tk. 20000 but results was not statistically significant (p&gt;.05).&#x0D; Conclusion: All these findings suggest that a substantial evidence of socioeconomic factors like family income, maternal education and social status has an effect on birth weight. Utilizing health care facilities, better training, educating mother, addressing demographic factors, condition can be improved.&#x0D; Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Journal Vol. 10, No. 2: July 2019, P 138-142

High Altitude Continues to Reduce Birth Weights in Colorado.

Objectives Colorado's relatively high altitudes have been reported to lower birth weight but the most recent studies were conducted 20years ago. Since then, the accuracy for assigning altitude of residence has been improved with the use of geocoding, and recommendations for pregnancy weight gain have changed. We therefore sought to determine whether currently, residence at high altitude (≥ 2500m, 8250 ft) lowers birth weight in Colorado. Methods Birth certificate data for all live births (n = 670,017) to Colorado residents from 2007 to 2016 were obtained from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Geocoded altitude of maternal residence for the current birth was assigned to each birth record. Linear and logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of altitude on birth weight or low birth weight (< 2500g) while controlling for other factors affecting birth weight, including pregnancy weight gain. Results Compared to low altitude, infants born at high altitude weighed 118g less and were more often low birth weight (8.8% vs. 11.7%, p < 0.05). After accounting for other factors influencing birth weight, high altitude reduced birth weight by 101g and increased the risk of low birth weight by 27%. The only factors with larger impacts on birth weight were hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and cigarette use during pregnancy. Conclusions for Practice High altitude remains an important determinant of elevated LBW rates in Colorado, and likely contributes to Colorado's comparative resistance towards meeting the Healthy People 2010/2020 nationwide goal to reduce the low birth weight rate to 7.2% by 2020.

Comparison of artificial neural network and logistic regression model for factors affecting birth weight

The aim of this work compares the ANN and logistic regression analysis to determine the factors affecting birth weight. This study included 223 newborn babies. The records of babies born between January 2017 and December 2017 were used. The data were obtained from Beykoz district of Istanbul. ANN and logistic regression analysis of the method obtained based on these records were evaluated. Logistic regression revealed the items GB, MA, GA, NH, BMI, MPPW, MWGP, MsAU, MsCU, MsE as significant factors for BW. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AuROC) curve 0.941 (SD = 0.0012) for ANN and 0.909 (SD = 0.019) for Logistic Regression model. The ANNs may be trained with data acquired in various contexts and can consider local expertise, differences, and other variables with uncertain effects on outcome. Although the ANN value is greater than the LR value, these results are very close to each other. This shows us that in terms of their classification ability, these two methods are approximately equal to each other. The results we have seen in our study show that in the medical diagnosis, neither model can change the other. Both models can be used as a complement to help with decision-making. Both models have the potential to help physicians with respect to understanding BW risk factors, risk estimation.

Placental Factors Affecting Birth Weight of Late Onset Severe Preeclampsia

Objective of the study is to determine the correlation of placenta and birth weight in late onset preeclampsia. A case-control study,analysis prevalence was conducted in Moh Hoesin Hospital Palembang from August 2015 to August 2016. Samples were women who giving birth in Moh Hoesin Hospital Palembang. They were devided into two groups, severe preeclampsia as case group and normotension as control. Data were analyzed by X2, Exact Fisher’s and logistic regression test using SPSS 16.0. There were 180 subjects (90 cases and 90 controls). There was a positive correlation between placental macroscopic and late onset preeclampsia (p=0.009; OR=6.9), in contrast there was only one different placental microvascularisation of 16, between late onset preeclampsia and normotension, the mural or occlusive fibrin thrombi chorion (p=0.005; OR=9.9). Birth weight in late onset preeclampsia tended to be small but still in normal range and it was not statistictly significant (p=0.112; OR=10.4). There was a positive correlation between placental macroscopic and SGA baby on late onset preeclampsia (p=0.026; OR=16.6), but it wasnot proven microscopically. Placenta remains contributed to the pathogenesis of the late onset preeclampsia, but not as dominant as the early one.

Placental Factors Affecting Birth Weight of Late Onset Severe Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. Placental insufficiency is considered as the main pathogenesis in the early onset PE. Objective of the study is to determine the correlation of placenta and birth weight in late onset preeclampsia. A case-control study of prevalence was conducted in Moh. Hoesin Hospital Palembang from August 2015 to August 2016. Samples were women who giving birth in Moh.Hoesin Hospital Palembang. They were divided into two groups, severe preeclampsia as case group and normotensionas control. Data were analyzed by X2, Exact Fisher’s and logistic regression test using SPSS 16.0. There were 180 subjects (90 cases and 90 controls). There was a positive correlation between placental macroscopic and late onset preeclampsia (p=0.009; OR=6.9), in contrast there was only one different placental microvascularisation of 16, between late onset preeclampsia and normotension, the mural or occlusive fibrin thrombi chorion (p=0.005; OR=9.9). Birth weight in late onset preeclampsia tended to be small but still in normal range and it was not statistictly significant (p=0.112; OR=10.4). There was a positive correlation between placental macroscopic and SGA baby on late onset preeclampsia (p=0.026; OR=16.6), but it wasnot proven microscopically. Placenta remains contributed to the pathogenesis of the late onset preeclampsia, but not as dominant as the early one.

A cross sectional study for utilisation of antenatal care services and its association to birth weight of babies in a tertiary care centre in Western India

Background: Low birth weight is a major public health problem in India. Amongst several factors affecting birth weight, the two crucial factors are demographic characteristics of mothers and utilisation of antenatal care services. Identification of these bottlenecks will help in forming suitable strategies to mitigate the problem of low birth weight in developing countries.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a medical college hospital of Gujarat. All the mothers admitted in maternity ward for delivery during July 2017 and had given informed consent, were involved in the study. Interview consisted of demographic characteristic of mothers, utilisation of antenatal services and records of pregnancy outcome. Data were entered in excel 2010 and analysed using Epi info 7.2. Strength of association between LBW and risk factors was obtained using odds ratio test.Results: Majority of the mothers had registered for antenatal care within the first trimester (78%) and had taken minimum of four ANC visits (93%). One fifth (18%) of the mothers had babies weighing less than 2.5 kgs. Lower education status of mothers, multigravida, and mothers with less than four ANC visits, preterm births and female foetus were significantly at higher risk of low birth weight as compared to their counterparts.Conclusions: The factors determining LBW were lower education status of mothers, multigravidity, inadequate ANC visits, preterm births and female sex of foetus. We recommend that increasing the education status of masses, particularly of females and ensuring adequate ANC utilisation will reduce the problem of LBW.

Regression Tree Approach for Assessing the Effects of Non-Genetic Factors on Birth Weight of Hemşin Lamb

This study examined effects of birth year, herd type, age of dam, lamb sex, birth type and lamb color on birth weight in Hemsin lambs using the regression tree method. The study used the data obtained from 9113 Hemsin lambs born between 2007-2010. The average birth weight of Hemsin lambs was found to be 3.55 kg and the standard deviation was 0.727 kg. Significant differences were found in birth weights of Hemsin lambs according to birth year (P&amp;lt;0.001), birth type (P&amp;lt;0.001) and lamb sec (P&amp;lt;0.01), whereas no statistically significant difference was found according to herd type, age of dam and lamb color (P&amp;gt;0.05). According to the regression tree diagram, the most important factors affecting birth weight of Hemsin lambs were birth year, birth type, sex, herd type and age of dam. The absence of lamb color in the regression tree diagram indicates its insignificant effect on birth weight. The low risk value (0.456) and high R-Squared value (0.862) of the regression tree model shows that the model is sufficient to explain birth weight. Variables of birth year, birth type, sex, herd type and age of dam explained 86.2% of the variation in birth weight.

NON-GENETIC FACTORS AFFECTING BIRTH AND WEANING WEIGHT IN MANDYA SHEEP.

22Apr 2017 NON-GENETIC FACTORS AFFECTING BIRTH AND WEANING WEIGHT IN MANDYA SHEEP. Siddalingamurthy. H. K , Manju , G.U. , Roopa Devi. Y.S. , Manjunatha. S. S. and Sreesujatha. R. M. Associate Professor and Head, Livestock Research and Information Centre (Sheep), Nagamangala, Mandya district, Karnataka. Assistant Professor, Veterinary College, KVAFSU, Shivamoga, Karnataka, India. Assistant Professor, Veterinary College, KVAFSU, Hassan, Karnataka, India. Assistant Professor, Livestock Research and Information Centre (Sheep), Nagamangala, Mandya district, Karnataka. Research Associate, Livestock Research and Information Centre (Sheep), Nagamangala, Mandya district, Karnataka.

Modeling birth weight neonates and associated factors.

Background:Neonate with abnormal weight is at risk of increased mortality and morbidity. Many factors affect pregnancy outcome. Because of the importance and vital role in birth weight, in this study, some of the factors associated with birth weight in a sample of Iranians neonates were investigated.Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 245 newborns in a sample of Iranians neonates in the year 2013 were selected, and characteristics of neonate and their mothers were derived. Birth weights were registered by the neonatal scale. To identify the direct and indirect factors affecting birth weight, we used path analysis (PA) and IBM AMOS and SPSS software.Results:The mean ± standard deviation of weight in girls (3200 ± 421) g less than boys (3310 ± 444) g significantly (P = 0.04). Gestational age (P < 0.001), birth rank (P = 0.012), distance from a previous pregnancy (P = 0.028), and mother weight (P = 0.04) had a statistical significant relationship with birth weight. In the final PA model, gestational age has a highest total effect, type of delivery with gestational age-mediated had the highest indirect effect and type of delivery, and gestational age had the greatest total impact on the birth weight.Conclusion:Gestational age, sex, distance from a previous pregnancy, maternal weight, type of delivery, number of abortion, and birth rank were related with birth weight. Due to the termination of pregnancy and avoid unnecessary deliveries through cesarean section and other related factors should be further consideration by childbirth experts. In addition, factors affecting these variables are carefully identified and prevented as much as possible.