Low birth weight and associated maternal factors in an urban area.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) and its association with maternal factors. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Urban community. SUBJECTS: Cohort of 210 pregnant women. RESULTS: The LBW prevalence was 30.3%. On multivariate analyses the maternal factors significantly associated with LBW were anemia (OR-4.81), low socioeconomic status (OR-3.96), short birth interval (OR-3.84), tobacco exposure (OR-3.14), height (OR-2.78), maternal age (OR-2.68), body mass index (OR-2.02), and primiparity (OR 1.58). CONCLUSIONS: Anemia, low socioeconomic status, short stature, short birth interval. Tobacco exposure, low maternal age, low body mass index, and primiparity are significantly risk factors for LBW.