Neonates' Birth Weight and Attitudinal Status of Primiparous Women in Hefei, China

Abstract

To examine the maternal attitudinal status among primiparous women, to explore the potential risk factors of their neonates' birth weight and to provide suggestions to improve the quality of perinatal health care, a survey was conducted in a medium city of China. Using a cluster sampling method, four hospitals were selected from Hefei City, China. Social and biomedical information was collected on 394 primiparous women and their neonates over the period of 10 May to 9 June, 1995 both from their medical records and from the mothers' responses to a questionnaire. Data analyses including univariate analysis, F test and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted. It was found that the primiparous women who had a high educational level, an occupation with a stable income and an optimal delivery age (23-29 years old) had a more stable maternal attitudinal status, and their neonates tended to have a higher birth weight. The parents' height, mother's weight, maternal nutritional status, neonate's gender, vagina bleeding history, location of the family home, whether the mother had regular check-ups and mother's negative feeling during pregnancy were also significantly correlated with the neonates' birth weight. The results suggested that the improvement of educational levels, raising economic status, particularly maternal nutrition status during pregnancy and the choice of an optimal delivery age among primiparous women might be helpful in reduction lower birth weight incidence.