Nutritional Status among Pregnant Women and Birth Weight of Newborns who give birth at St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: There is inadequate information on the effect of the nutritional status of pregnant women on the birth weight of newborns among mothers attending ANC service in Ethiopia, particularly at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College. Therefore, this proposal is designed to fill this information gap. Objectives: To assess the Nutritional Status among Pregnant Woman and the Birth Weight of newborns at St Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: Hospital-based cross-sectional study design will be conducted among mothers attending the Delivery ward at St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College from May to July 2022. Results: A total of 402 pregnant women were included in this study. The mean age of mothers was 35.58 ± 6.52 years ranging from 22 to 46 years. About one in five 81 (20.1%) mothers had a history of eclampsia at least once in life. More than one-half of mothers 248 (61.7%) were malnourished during 1st antenatal care visit (ANC) visit. In the third ANC visit, more than eight out of ten 356 (88.6%) were malnourished. Mothers aged 25-35 years [AOR = 15.537 (95% C.I. for AOR, 2.058– 117.330, p = 0.008)] when compared with those aged above 35 years. Having the normal birth weight of the newborn (2.5 -4.0 kg) [AOR = 7.952 (95% C.I. for AOR, 1.791– 35.307, p = 0.006)], and the Presence of no hyperglycemia during the third trimester [AOR = 6.660 (95% C.I. for AOR, 1.440– 30.809, p = 0.015)] was associated with maternal nutritional status. Similarly, the normal nutritional status of the mother [AOR = 0.282 (95% C.I. for AOR, 0.107– 0.742, p = 0.010)], and the presence of no hyperglycemia during the third trimester [AOR = 0.552 (95% C.I. for AOR, 0.319– 0.954, p = 0.033)] were associated with a birth weight of newborn. Conclusion: The level of maternal malnutrition (mainly over nutrition) in our study area was high. Similarly, the proportion of newborn babies with low and high birth weights was also significant. Therefore, addressing associated factors by involving all relevant stakeholders is critical to improving the maternal nutritional status and birth-weight of the newborn.