Association of low birth weight with maternal factors: age, marital status and previous pregnancies

Authors

  • Edison Sotalin Nivela
  • Angélica Herrera Martínez
  • María Augusta Reyes Pérez

Keywords:

low birth weight, age, marital status, previous pregnancies, Chi-square of independence

Abstract

Introduction: Low birth weight birth is linked to various health complications for newborns and mothers.

Objective: To associate low birth weight with maternal factors such as age, marital status and previous pregnancies in patients in the Ecuadorian in 2022.

Methods: The study was relational, observational, retrospective, analytical and cross-sectional. The sample consisted of 114 women attended in Ecuador. The Chi-square test of independence was used using SPSS software (version 27.0).

Results: Analysis showed that the prevalence of low birth weight was 50.9 % (58/114). Young adult mothers aged 20-35 years had the highest prevalence with 46.6 % (27/58), while by marital status were single mothers with 27.6 % (16/58). The chi-square test showed p-values greater than 0.05 for the association between low birth weight with the variables maternal age (p=0.140), number of previous pregnancies (p=0.989) and marital status (p=0.794).

Conclusions: No statistically significant association was found between low birth weight and the maternal variables age, marital status and number of previous pregnancies. Although higher prevalence of low birth weight was observed in children born to young adult and single mothers, chi-square tests indicated a lack of significance (p>0.05). Studies with larger sample sizes would be required to confirm possible associations between maternal factors and low birth weight in this population.

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Published

2024-04-08

How to Cite

1.
Sotalin Nivela E, Herrera Martínez A, Reyes Pérez MA. Association of low birth weight with maternal factors: age, marital status and previous pregnancies. Rev Cubana Inv Bioméd [Internet]. 2024 Apr. 8 [cited 2025 Dec. 8];43. Available from: https://revibiomedica.sld.cu/index.php/ibi/article/view/3280