Incidence of Low Birthweight Among Eastern Nigerians

In order to determine the incidence of low birthweight in Eastern Nigeria, a prospective study was undertaken over a 5-year period (1974–1978) at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. Similar studies were conducted over a 2-year period each at another urban but non-teaching maternity hospital and a rural hospital. The incidence of low birthweight was found to be 4.45 and 4.85% for male and female infants respectively at the urban hospitals. The corresponding figures for the rural population were 7.76 and 9.34% respectively. The figures for both urban and rural populations are much lower than those reported for a comparable population in Western Nigeria and compare quite favourably with those reported from the more socio-economically advanced parts of the world. The reasons for this are not yet apparent.