East African Scholars Journal of Medical Sciences Abbreviated Key Title: East African Scholars J Med Sci ISSN: 2617-4421 (Print) & ISSN: 2617-7188 (Online) Published By East African Scholars Publisher, Kenya Volume-4 | Issue-4 | May-2021 | DOI: 10.36349/easms.2021.v04i04.003 *Corresponding Author: Doris Ndefo 93 Original Research Article Prevalence of Low Birth Weight among Newborns in a Secondary Health Facility in South-South, Nigeria Doris Ndefo 1* , Peace Opara 2 1 Department of Paediatrics, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria 2 Department of Paediatrics, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria Article History Received: 25.03.2021 Accepted: 03.05.2021 Published: 16.05.2021 Journal homepage: https://www.easpublisher.com Quick Response Code Abstract: Low birth weight (LBW) is a major contributor to neonatal deaths and presents a significant burden on neonatal services of developing countries like Nigeria. The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of low birth weight in a secondary health facility in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. It was a hospital-based cross- sectional study carried out over a two-month period. Five hundred new-borns were recruited for the study. An interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from the mothers and subsequently all new-borns were weighed within 24 hours of delivery. Three hundred and thirty-seven (67.4%) of the mothers were of high socioeconomic class and 485 (97%) of them had antenatal care. There were 255 males and 245 females with a male to female ratio of 1.04:1. Twenty-six babies (5.2%) were LBW, while the mean birth weight of all the babies was 3.29kg ± 0.53. Out of the 26 LBW babies, 18 (69%) were preterm while 8 (31%). Prematurity was a significant contributor to low birth weight (p=0.0001). Overall, males were significantly heavier than females (p=0.001), however the relationship between gender and low birth weight was not significant (p= 0.766). The prevalence of LBW in the study was 5.2%. Improvement in socioeconomic status and utilisation of antenatal services are important in reducing prevalence of LBW. Keywords: prevalence, low birth weight, newborns, south-south, Nigeria. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION Birth weight has been regarded as the most sensitive and reliable predictor of health, and is universally accepted as an indicator of foetal and neonatal health, both for individuals and an entire population [1]. There exists an inverse relationship between birth weight and mortality rate. By one year of age, approximately 25% of babies who weighed less than 1500grams at birth die compared to 2% of those who weighed 1500-2499 grams and 0.3% of those who weighed 2500 grams or more [2]. It has been found to be an important determinant of a child’s ability to survive and to lead a healthy life in future [2]. Therefore, babies born with low birth weight are at a greater risk for gross morbidity and mortality in their early life, and varying consequences later in life for those that survive the very crucial neonatal period. Low birth weight (LBW) has come to light over the years as a public health problem because of its associated poor health outcome in comparison with normal birth weight. There is increasing evidence that low birth weight is a major cause of neonatal deaths [3]. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) define low birth weight as birth weight below 2500grams, irrespective of gestational age of the infant [4]. In conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the WHO estimates that 15.5% of all births, or more than 20 million infants are born with low birth weight, with 95.6% of them living in developing countries [5]. Furthermore, low birth weight is increasingly recognized as a significant risk factor for various negative birth outcomes such as foetal and neonatal deaths, short term morbidities like respiratory distress syndrome and necrotizing enterocolitis, and long-term sequelae like blindness, deafness, hydrocephaly, mental retardation, and cerebral palsy [6]. The neonatal mortality rate unfortunately has remained high in sub-Saharan Africa, and low birth weight still remains a major contributor. Low birth weight presents a major burden on the neonatal services especially in developing countries like Nigeria. It creates a great drain on the scarce resources available for adequate health care delivery and family upkeep [7]. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of low birth weight in a secondary health facility in Port Harcourt, south-south Nigeria.