Maternal factors associated with low birth weight

BACKGROUND: In Peru, low birth weight is an indicator of risk of perinatal problems and childhood, the study objective was to determine maternal factors associated to low birth weight.METHODS: Case-control study in 123 low birth weight (cases) and 123 normal-weight newborns (controls) matched for date of birth and district. Associated maternal factors were investigated to low birth weight and compared between cases and controls. Chi square was applied, Odds ratio (OR) with confidence intervals at 95% (95% CI), binary logistic regression and ROC curve.RESULTS: Partnerships for maternal history of low birth weight (OR: 41.1; 95 % CI: 5.5-306.7) were found; prematurity (OR: 12.0; 95% CI: 1.5-94.3), history of eclampsia (OR: 5.8; 95% CI: 1.9-17.4), one to three prenatal controls (OR: 5.7; 95% CI: 2.6-12.3), multiple gestation (OR: 4.7; 95% CI: 1.3-17.0) and tobacco consumption (OR: 3.8; 95 % CI: 1.5-9.8), not being a teenager (OR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1-0.6), and not having a short birth interval (OR: 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1-0.7). In multivariate analysis, we pointed out that having from 1 to 3 prenatal visits, multiple pregnancy, being a teenager and a short birth interval are associated with low birth weight, the proposed model explained 18.6% of the event, the area under the curve was 72.9%, considering that adequately predicts (p ˂ 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: There are maternal risk factors associated with low birth weight in pregnant women in urban areas of the coast as having from 1 to 3 prenatal visits, multiple gestation, being a teenager and having a period between pregnancies shorter than two years.