Publication:

Nutritional status among pregnant women of Aligarh district and its association with birth weight

Background Low birth weight is a prospective marker of future growth and development and a retrospective marker of mothers nutritional and health status.

Methods A community based prospective study conducted in field practice areas of Urban and Rural Health Training Center Department of Community Medicine, JNMCH, AMU, Aligarh. Participants were registered pregnant women who were in their first trimester and whose expected date of delivery lies within our study period. Study period was of one year. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Percentages and chi square test used.

Results Prevalence of LBW was found to be 40%. Occurrence of LBW babies decreased as the nutritional intake of mothers in the form of kilocalories consumed per day increased. The association between dietary calorie intake and birth weight was found to be statistically highly significant.

Conclusions Nutritional status of mother has to be improved not only during pregnancy, but also in her early childhood by undertaking food supplementation programs implemented through National Health Programs that improve the weight gain during delivery and result in improved fetal outcome.