[SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH LOW BIRTH WEIGHT IN THE CANARY ISLANDS].

OBJECTIVE

since 1976, the term low birth weight (LBW) has been applied to all infants weighing less than 2 500 g and it constitutes the most important factor affecting neonatal mortality, morbidity in childhood. The aim of this study is to identify associations between biological, socioeconomic and health factors and underweight newborns in the Canary Islands.

METHODS

a cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted, with the files belonging to pregnant women in 2011 and 2012 (n = 11.768) at the Hospital Universitario Insular Materno of Gran Canaria, which accounted for 66.3% of all births in the province for those years, excluding from the analysis the data pertaining to multiple births (393) (3.3%). The distribution and frequency of weight by sociodemographic characteristic were analyzed. Percentages were compared using the χ2 test, means with the t-test and medians with the Wilcoxon test for independent data. Those variables that were associated with low birth weight in the univariate analysis were entered into a logistic multidimensional analysis.

RESULTS

the distribution of birth weight revealed an of excess underweight children (9.3%), of which (62.1%) were pretermature. Mothers of children with LBW are thinner, of a smaller size and BMI (< 18.5 kg/m2), and an average age of 31.5. It was also noted that there is an increase between the age of the mothers and low weight although the effect is not linear; in fact, the increases in the risk of LBW accelerate as age increases. When maternal BMI decreases, to approximately below 25, the risk of low birth weight increases linearly. The highest OR correspond to fetal intrauterine growth retardation (CIR) (OR = 6.3; 95% CI = 5.3, 7.4), hypertension/eclampsia (OR = 3.2; 95% CI = 2.1; 5.1), in gestations of less than 37 weeks (OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 2.0; 3.3) and the consumption of tobacco by the mother (OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.6, 2.3).

CONCLUSIONS

smoking during pregnancy appears to be the most important mediating factor in IUGR mediating factor. An overweight or obese mother did not appear to constitute a risk factor for a child's low birth weight. Intrauterine growth restriction (IGR) is the variable health that most affects low weight and high blood pressure in the mother, also associated with fetal growth retardation. While it is true that lack of antenatal care cannot be considered as a causal factor of underweight babies, 47.1% of pregnant women in the Canaries had insufficient controls (< 3 controls) with an increase of said controls would make it possible to reduce the frequency of the low weight in newborns.