Introduction: Low birth weight (LBW) is a challenging multifaceted public health problem as it associated with infant mortality. LBW affects newborns’ survival and is a global concern especially for developing countries. It is the most common health indicator for assessing neonates’ health conditions. In terms of short and long term consequences, LBW plays an important role in inferring infant and childhood morbidities such as mental retardation, learning disabilities, inhibited growth and cognitive delays and so on.
Objective: To estimate the prevalence of LBW babies and determine the socio-demographic factors associated with LBW.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among postnatal mothers with singleton live born baby in a rural area of North Karnataka, India from January 2016 to December 2016. Based on the sample size, data was collected from 337 participants. The study Participants comprised of postnatal mothers with single live born baby. Weight of the newborn was recorded. Chi square test was used to find the association.
Results: The prevalence of LBW was found to be 21.1%. A number of factors like teenage pregnancy, occupation, type of family, etc. were found to be significantly associated with low birth weight.
Conclusion: Although the prevalence of LBW is lower than some of the studies done earlier in other parts of the country, but it are still more than national average of 18.6%. Thus there is a need to encourage the utilization of health services to ensure 100% antenatal care (ANC) registration and institutional deliveries.