Low birth weight in Bangladesh and associated maternal and socioeconomic factors: results from a recent nationally-representative survey

ABSTRACT Objectives Little is known about the relative contributions of maternal and socioeconomic factors on low birth weight in Bangladesh and whether they differ by sex. We examined the prevalence and associated maternal and socioeconomic factors of low birth weight separately among boys and girls. Design and settings This is a cross-sectional study based on the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2014. Participants A total of 4728 children with information on birth size were included in this study. Outcome measure Low birth weight was defined according to mother’s perception of birth size of their children. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between maternal and socioeconomic factors with low birth weight. Results The overall prevalence of low birth weight was 17.8% among boys and 22.4% among girls. Low birth weight was associated with maternal factors like maternal age of <20 years at birth (adjusted OR vs. 20-29 years: 1.40, 95% CI 1.09-1.78), and maternal undernutrition (adjusted OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.05-1.69) among boys while only the association with maternal undernutrition was significant among girls. The association for no antenatal care visit was explained by socioeconomic factors. Lower level of mother’s education and poorest wealth index were found to be associated with low birth weight in both sexes. Conclusion Our study identifies that maternal factors are associated with increased risk of having low birth weight babies, which cannot be explained by socioeconomic factors, and vice versa. Community-based interventions to reduce low birth weight in Bangladesh should focus on these factors. Strengths and limitations of this study To the best of our knowledge our study is the first study in Bangladesh that has looked at the factors for low birth weight separately among boys and girls. We used multiple logistic regression to examine the associations of maternal and socioeconomic factors with low birth weight in a large and nationally-representative sample. This study is limited because we used mother’s perception of child’s size at birth to define low birth weight. We did not have information about gestational age and thereby could not take prematurity into account in our study.