"Causes and Consequences of Low Birth weight"
Low birth weight can be defined as baby born with weight less than 2500g. It is one of the adverse pregnancy results in the world, which is affected to the newborn survival, growth and development. There are categorizes in the low birth weight; very low birth weight which a birth weight is less than 1500g and extremely low birth weight which is a birth weight is less than 1000g. An estimated 18 million babies are born worldwide each year with low birth weight and 9.3 million of them in south Asia. Low birth weight percentage in Sri lanka is 16% and is high in the developing countries. At that time, the low birth weight (LBW) rate for industrialized countries are 5%-7%. In England and Wales, the incidence of low birth weight increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 6.7 percent in 1990, while that of very low birth weight increased from 0.78 in 1980 to 0.98 percent in 1990 (and 1.2 percent in 1996 - Masuy-Stroobant and Gourbin, 1995, p. 73; Petrou, 2003, referring to
Macfarlane and Mugford, 2000). However, birth weight is a major factor in determining infant survival, future physical growth and mental development. In addition, maternal nutritional status mainly affect to the low birth weight.
Source: unicef
There are many causes affect to the LBW, one of that is deficiency of micronutrients of pregnant women. Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals are essential elements for normal body function and growth. During pregnancy, nutrient requirement is increased when developing the fetal, placenta and also important to maternal growth. The impact of micronutrients deficiency on pregnancy is associated with increased maternal morbidity and mortality, abortion, low b...
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...n at school. His learning ability is lower than others. LBW also has a greater risk of being overweight or obese in adulthood and also affect to the diabetes, high blood pressure, renal diseases, atherosclerosis and heart diseases which are long term consequences of LBW. In addition according to some research, shown even healthy young men with LBW show changes in glucose metabolism such as increased whole body and specific tissue insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion. Low birth weight children can born at term or before term and have varying degrees of social and medical risk. Because low birth weight children are not a homogeneous group, they have a broad spectrum of growth, health, and developmental outcomes. While the vast majority of low birth weight children have normal outcomes, as a group they generally have higher rates of subnormal growth,
Two-thirds of infants die during the first month of life due to low birth weight (Lia-Hoagberg et al, 1990). One reason for this outcome is primarily due to difficulties in accessing prenatal care. Prenatal health care encompasses the health of women in both pre and post childbearing years and provides the support for a healthy lifestyle for the mother and fetus and/or infant. This form of care plays an important role in the prevention of poor birth outcomes, such as prematurity, low birth weight and infant mortality, where education, risk assessment, treatment of complications, and monitoring of fetus development are vital (McKenzie, Pinger,& Kotecki, 2012). Although every woman is recommended to receive prenatal health care, low-income and disadvantaged minority women do not seek care due to structural and individual barriers.
Viner, Russell M and Tim J Cole. “Adult Socioeconomic, Educational, Social, and Psychological Outcomes of Childhood Obesity: A National Birth Cohort Study.” British Medical Journal 330. 1354. Web. 30, August 2011.
In Indigenous Australian communities low birth weight infants and infant mortality is much more common than in non-Indigenous Australian communities.
When it comes to eating right, it is important that the diet of a pregnant woman has food energy, protein, with many vitamins and minerals, as this is essential for the pregnancy to support the metabolic demands of pregnancy and the baby's growth. It is then, that knowing the fact that the diet of a pregnant woman should be well controlled it is ide...
Human developments are governed by two main factors: genetics and environment. Nutrition is one of the most crucial aspects of the environment. Malnutrition during the fetal development and the childhood can have potentially devastating consequences in the long run. Preventive measures need taken, both in local and national levels, to address this crucial issue.
Schieve, Laura A., PhD., et al. "Low and very Low Birth Weight in Infants Conceived with use of Assisted Reproductive Technology." The New England journal of medicine 346.10 (2002): 731-7. ProQuest. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Infancy is a very important time period for growth and development for a young child’s life. The first 12 months are the foundation for the baby’s nutritional health to be established. According to Grodner, Escott-Stump, and Dorner, during the first year, a human infant is expected to triple his or her birth weight and increase its length by 50%. “In addition, after birth, organs such as the kidney and brain continue to develop and mature. In no other period of life do growth and development occur so rapidly” (Grodner, Escott-Stump, & Dorner, 2016, p.200). Since this growth and development is so rapid it is essential to make sure that the infant has the appropriate balance of all nutrients. In addition, parents, caregivers, and health care
Low birth weight is a major health problem in the world.The normal healthy birth weight is 2500 to 3500. Low Birth Weight is defined as babies who are born weighing less than 2500 grams. The estimated low birth weight percentage in world is 15% and it distribute among 3.3% to 38%. According to the DHS 2006/07 low birth weight in Sri Lanka is 16.6% which fluctuated 16% to 18% over last few decades. Low birth weight is a multifaceted public health problem and it is major determinant of mortality, morbidity and disability in neonates, infancy and child hood.The low birth weight will be created problems associate with society, health sector and economy of country. When we consider about the world, its fluctuated among the country. The developing countries have high percentage of low birth weight compared with developed countries. According to the world health organization, in developing countries has been estimated to effect between 14 and 20 million infants per year, or as many as 30 million is equal to 11% of all birth in developing countries. At the national level, highest incident for low birth weight respectively are Bangladesh (50%, 39%), India(28%, 21%), Pakistan (25%, 18%) and in Sri Lanka(19%, 13%). The prevalence of low birth weight is higher in Asia than elsewhere, predominantly because of under nutrition of mother before pregnancy exacerbated under nutrition during pregnancy. The amount of 60% women in south Asia and 40% in South East Asia are under weight. Low weight at birth has a profoundly adverse effect on the health and development of neonate. LBW is probably the main reason why over 50% of children in South Asia are under weight. The adverse consequences of LBW continue to be manifested during childhood, and are pas...
...ht. Other factors that contribute to babies being born of a healthy weight or of normal range contributes to the mother’s own weight both before and during pregnancy. Furthermore, it is very essential to get enough proper nutrients to ensure a healthy birth weight. Also, your prenatal health is important and ensuring that you do not smoke, drink, or have other risk factors such as hypertension that can cause problems during pregnancy and to your baby. Besides, a baby 's race can contribute to babies being born of a normal range birth weight. Babies that are born of Caucasian race tend to be larger babies than black babies or babies of other ethnicity. Furthermore, a low birth weight baby is considered less than 5.5 pounds and a high birth weight is more than 8.8 pounds (“Birth Weight”, 2016). However, a normal birth weight can be between 5.5 pounds and up.
The review screened several online databases and processed only 31 documents consisting of studies, reports, and book chapters that fit their criteria. In the 31 documents, the population of the studies contained about 14,585 of pregnant women, babies and children (Carolan-Olah , Duarte-Gardea, & Lechuga, 2015). The review focused on how the nutritional status of the mother not only affected her but also led to future complications that would affect the child. Meaning, the mother’s actions would lead to alteration in the genetic makeup that would lead to predisposition to adult diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiac diseases.It was found that pregnancy was a possible time for dietary education and intervention on behalf of both child and mother after analyzing these documents. This evidence shows that education at this time point is optimal to reach new mothers. Though this practice has been implemented in many western countries, most notably the United States, it is not really practices in other countries or in women who fall in the low socioeconomic status
The rate of infant mortality is based off every 1000 live births. It is said that for every one thousand live births six unfortunately die. Infant mortality rate is used to access the value on behalf of health and well being of the nation. This factor affects the health of entire population of the nation, which the mortality rate of infants impacts. Genetics, age, race, and ethnicity play an obvious role in infant mortality. For instance according to Center of control disease “the mortality rate for non-Hispanic black infants is more than twice that of non-Hispanic white infants.”(Center of control disease)
Women who do not receive prenatal care are three times more likely to have low-birth-weight babies
Infant mortality rates are death of children younger than 1 year. The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is surprisingly higher than most industrialized nations - the rate is shown later on the text. Much of these deaths are complications caused by lack of care such as; low-birth-weight babies, preterm babies, smoking, substance usage, lack of high quality health care, lack of food and nutrition, and chronic diseases. In contrasts, prevention methods could readily change the outcomes of infant mortality, by simple behavioral changes. According to the Healthy Paso del Norte Report, in 2013 8.8% of babies were low-birth-weight, which is a little bit more than the national average. This would be another great reason to invest in high quality health care for maternal, infant and child health. Considering, our book describes low-birth-weight babies to be “the single most important factor in neonatal death…” (McKenzie & Pinger, 2012).
Nutrition is considered to be known for the single greatest environmental influence on babies in the womb and during infancy, and it remains essential throughout the first years of life. Also nutrition is an environmental factored as it represents access to resources from the environment. The nutrition a child receives during the first few years of life can affect her health for years to come. Balanced nutrition is important to child development because children need specific nutrients to thrive and grow strong and in a positively way.. Poor nutrition can result from lack of food as well as overeating,fetal development and early life can lower child’s intelligence score and lead to learning disorders., since nutrition is about more than simple caloric intake. Proper child development relies on a solid nutritional, which includes the correct amount of each nutrient. For babies while they get breastfeed it helps them to grow strong into a healthy toddler because breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients and vitamins needed. The one who provide and need more vitamins while they develop their brains even more are toddlers since they are the one learning a lot of various different things. In contrast to popular opinion, National Library Of medicine Claims that's as children grow,they develop in several different ways, but because of “Children's start to become more independent from their parents.” Nutrition in a child’s early years is linked to their health and academic performance in later years. Brain development can be affected by the quality and efficiency of the child's
Mothers who receive a higher level of education might be able to provide better protection and health care for their children than those with less education. Without the proper nutrition and health care before and after birth, children will develop poor cognition, motor, and social-emotional maturity. Studies show a distinct relationship between mothers having a higher maternal education and the physical growth in children. With the higher level of education, women will have increased knowledge and understanding in how to increase the overall health and wellbeing of their children. It is noted that after the child’s birth the first few years are the most critical in the child’s life. According to Semba, et al., 2008 children who do not get the proper care cannot maximize and develop as functional adults because of growth stunting during childhood. He further stated that the consequences of growth stunting could adversely affect the quality of life of an individual. It is imperative to understand the implications of growth stunting on a child’s development, and the importance of maternal education in order to reduce its impact.