Maternal Hemoglobin Levels as a Causative Factor in Incidence of Low Birth Weight Babies: A Public Health Prospective

Aims: To analyze some aspects of the maternal and the newborn in the incidence of low birth weight babies (LBWB).

Study Design: simple retrospective with cross-sectional design approach.

Place and Duration of Study: Retrospective data of LBWB obtained from newborn medical record (year 2017-2022) of The Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Tebo Regional Public Hospital, located in Jambi-Indonesia and analysis conducted in the Departemen Kedokteran Komunitas (Community Medicine), the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Kristen Indonesia, Jakarta Indonesia, between September-November 2023.

Methodology: The inclusion criteria focus on all newborn with LBWB that have complete medical record data. The acquired data regarding (1) maternal age, gestational age at the time of giving birth, Hb level prior to delivery, (2) newborn: gender, survivability and birth weight. All respondents will be subjected to statistical analysis using the SPSS programme and Microsoft Excel 2016. The exhibited information consists of data distribution presented in the form of tables and utilising univariate analysis and regression testing.

Results: Analysis of 256 LBWB data (122 (47.65%) boys, 134 (52.34%) girls) revealed that in the maternal side mean age 28.54 years old, mean gestational age 36.07 weeks at the time of giving birth and mean Hb level 10.8 gram/dL. In the newborn side viability were 226 (88.33%) viable and mean overall birth weight 1990.2 g. Statistically using Pearson correlation, there is a very weak correlation firstly among maternal Hb count with the neonates primary weight (P = 0.00, r = 0.154) and secondly between gestational age and the birth weight of newborn (P = 0.00, r = 0.000). From the community medicine perspective, Efforts to increase the Hb levels of pregnant women theoretically can be carried out more easily by encouraging and increasing the mother's and also their partners, families and society awareness of carrying out routine antenatal care, encouraging the role of health motivator/local health cadre and conducting Hb examination as simple screening; all of them supported by the government.

Conclusion: Maternal low Hb count and gestational age correlate with birth weight of newborn. Further in depth and extensive study needed to explore specific factors contribute to the incidence of anemia in mother who gave birth neonates which have low birth weight (LBW) and their impact to pregnancy.