Prevention against malaria before the first antenatal visit and absence of anaemia at the first visit were protective from low birth weight: results from a South Kivu cohort, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Date
2018Author
Bahizire, E
Dramaix, M
Bigirinama, R
Balegamire, S
Balungu, Y
Meuris, S
D'Alessandro, U
Donnen, P
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background:
There is little information on the causes of low birth weight (LBW, <2500 g) in South Kivu. The authors determined the prevalence of LBW among full-term newborns, and its relationship with malaria and anaemia at the first antenatal visit (ANV1) in the rural health zone of Miti-Murhesa, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Methods:
Four-hundred-and-seventy-eight pregnant women in the second trimester attending their first antenatal clinic were recruited between November 2010 and July 2011, and followed-up until delivery. Besides information on use of preventive measures and malaria morbidity, anthropometric measures and a blood sample were collected.
Results:
Women's mean age (SD) at enrolment, was 26 (6.5) years (n=434); prevalence of malaria was 9.5% (43/453) and that of anaemia 32.2% (141/439). The latter was significantly more frequent in malaria-infected women and in those who had not been dewormed. At delivery, prevalence of LBW was 6.5% (23/355) and was independently associated with not sleeping under insecticide-treated bed net (p=0.030), mother's height <150 cm (p=0.001) and anaemia at the ANV1 (p=0.006).
Conclusion:
In South Kivu, malaria and anaemia are important risk factors for LBW, and should be prevented among all women of reproductive age.
Citation
10.1093/trstmh/try066. [Epub ahead of print]Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10377]
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