A Systematic Review of The Risk Factors Affecting Low Birth Weight

Abstract

Backgrounds: Low birth weight (LBW) is a significant factor in 60 to 80 percent of all neonatal fatalities and is one of the most important health indicators in the primary measure set used by the International Dietary Surveillance Application.  Objectives: This systematic review was conducted to determine the factors affecting to LBW. Materials & Methods: Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus, and Persian scientific databases were searched from 2012 to 2022. Selection procedure, data screening and analysis were performed by two independent reviewers. The quality of included articles were evaluated with the 22-item strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) and a checklist of appropriate criteria based on the research design for each one.

Results: Of the 1200 articles collected, 51 met the study inclusion criteria. The most common variables with a frequency of more than 15%  that led to LBW were the mother's age (22 studies, 43/13%), mother's chronic diseases (Hypertension and diabetes mellitus), mother's iron deficiency anemia (14 studies, 27/45%), mother's weight and BMI (13 studies, 25/4%), ANC visits (12 studies, 23/52%), sex of the child (9 studies, 17/64%), parity and inter-pregnancy interval (8 studies, 15/68%).  Conclusion: The mother's age, chronic diseases, mother’s anemia, mother's weight and BMI, insufficient ANC visits, sex of the child, parity and inter-pregnancy interval have a great impact on the LBW. Therefore, interventions, plans and programs aimed at addressing these risk factors could potentially reduce the incidence of LBW.