Abstract

Author(s): Fernandes, Mayra Pacheco1; Bierhals, Isabel Oliveira2; Demoliner, Fernanda1; Pretto, Alessandra Doumid Borges3; Pastore, Carla Alberici4

Introduction: The health conditions of newborns can be analyzed according to their weight at the birth, considered a determinant factor of the probability to survive to postnatal period and all the first year of life.

Aims: To identify the main determinant factors associated to weight at birth in a teaching maternity.

Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted between May and October-2012 enrolling all pregnant women 18 years or older, attended in parturition, and their newborns, in the Maternity of the Teaching Hospital of the Federal University of Pelotas-Brazil. The convenience sample had 210 puerperal who accepted participate in the study and answered to a questions about the pregnancy and social/economic data. Data about nutritional status and prenatal care was collected from the prenatal care records. The analyses were conducted using the statistical package Stata 12.1®, considering a 5% significance level.

Results: The maternal mean age was 25.8 ± 5.65 years old. Most of them were married or lived with a partner and 47.1% completed the high school. About behavioral factors, 24.8% smoked and 18.6% drank alcohol during pregnancy. Nutritional status at the beginning of gestation showed high overweight prevalence (35.8%). Related to the type of parturition, it was found 46.2% of caesarean. The mean newborns weight was 3,295.4 ± 478,5 grams, the most had adequate weight at birth (68.6%) and there was association of the weight with maternal education, tobacco consumption, maternal weight gain and number of prenatal consultations.

Discussion: Generally, the finds of the present study are in concordance with the literature, mainly about association of birth weight to tobacco consumption, maternal weight gain and number of prenatal consultation. However, there was no association to alcohol consumption during pregnancy, which could be due to underreporting of such condition, and to newborn gender, both conditions well consolidated in literature.

Conclusions: Prenatal care can promote healthy maternal behavior and effect on in uterus growth and on pregnancy length, acting on the early identification management of the changeable risk factors for inadequate birth weight.