Singleton Low Birth Weight Babies At A Tertiary Hospital In Enugu, South East Nigeria.

Background Low birth weight (LBW) babies are significantly at risk of death, contributing to the high perinatal morbidity and mortality in low resource countries. ObjectiveTo determine the incidence of LBW babies in our hospital, identify predisposing factors with a view to proffering solution.MethodA one year prospective study of Singleton LBW babies delivered at Enugu State University Teaching Hospital(ESUTH), Parklane, Enugu from 1 November 2007 to 31st October 2008 was carried out. ResultThere were 168 LBW babies and 1630 live births giving an incidence of 10.76%. Of these, 116 (69.05%) were preterm and 52 (30.95%) were term, small for gestational age. The mean birth weight was 3.13kg. Six (3.57%) of the mothers of LBW babies were teenagers. Nulliparity, illiteracy, lack of antenatal care and preterm delivery significantly increased the incidence of LBW (p-value<0.05) while maternal weight and height at booking, and fetal sex did not (p-value>0.05).Identified predisposing factors included hypertensive disease in pregnancy, malaria and anaemia in pregnancy, preterm prelabour rupture of membranes and antepartum haemorrhage.