Comparative study of Socio-economic status of mothers who delivered term low birth weight babies with mothers who delivered normal birth weight babies in a tertiary care rural hospital

Objectives: To compare the demographic profile of mothers who delivered term low birth weight babies with that of mothers who delivered normal birth weight babies and study the association between the demographic variables of mother and the delivery of low birth weight babies. Material and methods: Study conducted at Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics of Narayana medical college hospital, Nellore, India. Participants were 120 postnatal mothers who delivered babies in the preceding 7days. 60 mothers who delivered term low birth weight babies and 60 mothers who delivered normal birth weight babies were include in the study. Five demographic variables: age of the mothers at the time of conception, educational status of the mothers, monthly family income, occupation of the mothers and presence or absence of consanguinity were recorded. Using chi-square test these variables are compared between two groups of mothers and association of these demographic variables with the delivery of low birth weight babies is studied. Results: Significant association was found between the family income and low birth weight (P-value 0.002) and between consanguineous marriage and low birth weight (P-value 0.000). Significant association was not found between the age of the mothers and low birth weight (P value 0.924), between occupation of the mother and low birth weight (P value 0.15) and between educational status of the mother and low birth weight babies (P value 0.062). Conclusion: Low family income and consanguineous marriage have significant association with delivery of low birth weight babies.