Low birthweight and its associated factors in India: A comparative study of national family health survey from the 4th and 5th rounds

BACKGROUND: A serious global public health issue is low birth weight. OBJECTIVE: This study used information from NFHS rounds 4 and 5 to gauge the shift in predominance of lower birth weight difference between the 2 rounds. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surveys on National Family Health from 2015–2016 (NFHS 4) and 2019–2021 (NFHS 5) were utilized to compile the data. This sample contained 2,09,266 under-5 children from NFHS-5 and 1,93,345 under-5 children from NFHS-4. Both bivariate and multivariate approaches were used for analysis. RESULT: In India, the prevalence of LBW was marginally reduced from 17.6% to 17.4% although it was not substantial. In comparison to male children, the likelihood of LBW is greater in female children (OR: 1.22; CI: 1.19-1.26 and OR:1.22, CI: 1.19-1.26), whose mothers are underweight (OR: 1.29; CI: 1.25-1.34 and OR: 1.27; CI: 1.22-1.31), and in children whose mothers are under 20 years (OR: 1.15; CI: 1.09-1.22 and OR: 1.13; CI:1.06-1.19). First-born children (18.6% to 18.2%), mothers who do not smoke (17.9% to 17.5%), and those from the North (19.8% to 18.2%) and the South (16.8% to 15.8%) experienced a drop in the prevalence of LBW. CONCLUSION: There was no discernible difference between the average rate of low birth weight. To address the high frequency of LBW children, programmers, and policies will need to be developed. This research adds significant knowledge to the body of knowledge of the elements that affect LBW and are most closely tied to the mother.