Poor birth weight recovery among low birth weight/preterm infants following hospital discharge in Kampala, Uganda
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Date
2012
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC pregnancy and childbirth
Abstract
Healthy infants typically regain their birth weight by 21 days of age; however, failure to do so may
be due to medical, nutritional or environmental factors. Globally, the incidence of low birth weight deliveries is
high, but few studies have assessed the postnatal weight changes in this category of infants, especially in Africa.
The aim was to determine what proportion of LBW infants had not regained their birth weight by 21 days of age
after discharge from the Special Care Unit of Mulago hospital, Kampala. A cross sectional study was conducted assessing weight recovery of 235 LBW infants attending the Kangaroo Clinic in the Special Care Unit of Mulago Hospital between January and April 2010. Infants aged 21 days with a documented birth weight and whose mothers gave consent to participate were included in the study.Baseline information was collected on demographic characteristics, history on pregnancy, delivery and postnatal outcome through interviews. Pertinent infant information like gestation age, diagnosis and management was obtained from the medical records and summarized in the case report forms.Of the 235 LBW infants, 113 (48.1%) had not regained their birth weight by 21 days. Duration ofhospitalization for more than 7 days (AOR: 4.2; 95% CI: 2.3 - 7.6; p value < 0.001) and initiation of the first feed after 48 hours (AOR: 1.9; 95% CI 1.1 - 3.4 p value 0.034) were independently associated with failure to regain birth
weight. Maternal factors and the infant’s physical examination findings were not significantly associated with failure
to regain birth weight by 21 days of age.
Conclusion: Failure to regain birth weight among LBW infants by 21 days of age is a common problem in Mulago
Hospital occurring in almost half of the neonates attending the Kangaroo clinic. Currently, the burden of morbidity
in this group of high-risk infants is undetected and unaddressed in many developing countries. Measures for
consideration to improve care of these infants would include; discharge after regaining birth weight and use of
total parenteral nutrition. However, due to the pressure of space, keeping the baby and mother is not feasible at
the moment hence the need for a strong community system to boost care of the infant. Close networking with
support groups within the child’s environment could help alleviate this problem.
Description
Keywords
Birth Weight ; Mulago Hospital; Special Care Unit; Poor Weight Gain; Village Health Team
Citation
Namiiro, F. B., Mugalu, J., McAdams, R. M., & Ndeezi, G. (2012). Poor birth weight recovery among low birth weight/preterm infants following hospital discharge in Kampala, Uganda. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 12(1), 1-7.https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2393-12-1