Factors Affecting Birth Weight at Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi County

This cross-sectional study sought to identify the various factors responsible for low birth weight in Nairobi County. Three hundred and one pregnant mothers, who had booked for antenatal care in Kenyatta hospital which is Nairobi County, were studied for age, residence, occupation, medical condition, folic intake, iron, delivery mode, age of the spouse and other characteristics. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and was later analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis tools. The mean maternal age was 26.45 years (range 16-46 years).15.0 % of women were married at the time of delivery and 85 % were separateddivorced.23.6 % of the women had attained primary level of education, 40.2 % secondary and 35.9 % tertiary.49.2 % booked antenatal care (ancbooking) at 28 weeks of their gestation period. Most women came from urban i. e.90.7 % and only 6.3 % came from rural area.71.5 % of the mothers were unemployed and only 28.5 % were employed, 72.6 % had taken folic and 72.6 % had taken iron. Most mothers (59.9 %) had used family planning methods and only 39.9 % were never users.10 % had diabetes, 30 % hypertension, epilepsy 50 %, anemia 30 % and 20 % had asthma. According to the study findings medical condition was found to be the most influencing factor on birth weight with a strong positive spearman correlation of 0.769: p value