High Prevalence of Low Birth Weight Babies Born to Pregnant Women Referred to a District Hospital in Rural Zambia

Objectives Low birthweight (LBW) is a significant public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa and LBW in rural Zambia is high. Our study explored the prevalence of LBW for newborns whose mothers were referred from a rural health center to a district referral hospital in Lundazi, Zambia. Methods A five-month retrospective record review of Ministry of Health data was performed to examine birthweight characteristics of a convenience sample of newborns from ten facilities referring to one district hospital ( n = 234). Results Among all cases, 21% ( n = 49) of newborns were LBW. For LBW newborns, 73% ( n = 36) were preterm with mothers having a pregnancy duration of less than 37 weeks. Newborns whose mothers experienced twin pregnancies ( p = .021) and prolonged labor ( p = .033) were more often LBW. However, regression models demonstrated no difference among newborns with and without LBW for prolonged labor ( p = .344) and twin pregnancies ( p = .324) when controlling for variables that could interact with the maternal-newborn delivery outcomes. Conclusions for Practice Healthcare providers and policy makers need to address the short and long-term effects of LBW throughout the lifecycle in rural Zambia. More maternal-newborn health research is needed to understand the underlying socioeconomic, social, and cultural determinants influencing LBW in rural Zambia.