Authors: Ly F, Niang B, Keita Y, Fall AT, Diouf AA, Cissè DF, Sakho Kane A, Sarr FN, Ndiaye O, Diouf A.
Introduction: Low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health problem in developing countries such as Senegal. Based on this observation, the objective of our study was to determine the etiological and prognostic factors of newborns of LBW admitted to neonatology at the Pediatrics Department of Pikine National Hospital Center.
Material and Method: This were a case-control study, conducted from 1 January2019 to 31 December 2019 at the Pediatrics Department of Pikine National Hospital Center.
We compared 150 newborns of LBW (weight between 2500 and 800 g), and 150 newborns of normal weight (weight between 2500 g and 4000 g).
Results: The most represented maternal age group was between 18 and 35 years of age with proportions of 75.2% for LBW and 76% for controls, respectively. Mothers had a low socio-economic level in most cases (LBW=44.8% vs. controls=55.2%). Regarding pregnancy follow-up, only 25.6% of LBW mothers had performed 4 PNC compared to 74.4% of controls. Most of mothers had pathologies during pregnancy (LBW = 81.31% versus controls = 50.63%). Pregnancy was multiple in 75.5% of cases in LBW compared to 24.5% in controls. Delivery was full-term in only 17.33% among LBWs compared to 92.2% in the control group. The main clinical diagnosis was MFI in the 2 groups (LBW=56.7%, controls=42%). Length of hospital stay was greater than 14 days in 25.52% of cases in LBW compared to 14% in controls. The case fatality rate was 22% for NPCs versus 9.3% for controls. Thus, the etiological factors significantly associated with LBW were: low socio-economic level (p=0.001), maternal obstetric-medical pathologies, including HRP (p=0.002) and preeclampsia (p<0.001), number of PNCs<3 (p < 0.001) and multiple pregnancy (p<0.001). Prognostic factors significantly associated with death were low gestational age (p<0.001) and LBW category (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The etiological and prognostic factors associated with NPF identified in our study prove that their presence in pregnant women is likely to lead to the birth of an NPF and to affect their vital prognosis. Hence the need to promote quality PNCs during pregnancy, to strengthen the technical platform of reference structures and to improve collaboration between gynecologists, obstetricians, and pediatricians for better care of the mother-child couple.