Effect of party, maternal age and pre-eclampsia on birth weight .

Abstract

A case control study was carried out in Lusaka to find the effect of parity, maternal age, pre-eclampsia and its severity on birth weight. 100 pre-eclamptic cases were selected from University Teaching Hospital, department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 200 controls were selected from Chilenje Clinic, a peripheral Clinic in Lusaka. All samples were randomly selected. Average birth weight for this study was 3.233kg. This was the average birth weight for controls. From this study it was shown pre-eclampsia reduces the average birth weight of a child. Average birth weight for cases was 2.9521kg and that for controls was 3.2136kg. The difference was significant (P value>0.05). Average birth weight for mild pre-eclampsia cases was 2.978kg, for moderate was 3.016kg and severe was 2.850kg. These values were not significantly different. Average birth weight increased with maternal age but the differences were not statistically significant. Ideal maternal age for ideal average birth weight was the 20-29 year group. Birth weight increased with parity. The ideal parity for ideal average birth weight was Para 2 and Para 3.