Investigating factors affecting low birth weight of infants: a brief review

Introduction: Birth weight is one of the most important indicators in evaluating the health of newborns as wellas their physical and brain development, and the appropriate weight of the newborn is a sign of good intrauterinegrowth and proper nutrition of the mother during pregnancy. According to the definition of the World HealthOrganization, newborn babies weighing less than ۲۵۰۰ grams are considered underweight. Given that today oneof the most important causes of infant death is low birth weight and there are various factors such as mental,psychological, social problems, the heavy costs of their care and treatment. The present study was designed withthe aim of investigating the factors affecting low birth weight in infants.Methods: The present study is a summary review that was designed in ۲۰۲۳. Three databases, PubMed, GoogleScholar and ISI, were used to search for related articles. The selected keywords included low birth weight,pregnancy and infant death. The inclusion criteria included the availability of the full text of the articles, andthe exclusion criteria included the articles published in conferences or convention. At first, ۵۳ articles wereselected and after removing duplicate articles, ۳۲ articles were finally examined.Results: By examining various studies, it was found that low birth weight depends on various factors such asmother's age, parents' occupation and education, pregnancy duration, history of abortion, multiple births, historyof smoking especially nicotine and genetic history. Most of low birth babies had mothers with high bloodpressure during pregnancy, low level of hemoglobin and hematocrit and preeclampsia. Also, parents who livein densely populated cities with air pollution are more likely to have low birth weight babies than other parentsdue to the chemical particles from polluting fuels.Conclusion: Low birth weight leads to chronic diseases such as reduced insulin sensitivity, cardiovasculardiseases and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia in adulthood. Due to mental retardation and behavioraldisorders, these babies do not have the ability to adapt to the social environment and socialize with their peers.Therefore, to prevent it, you can use prenatal care and regular weight monitoring by the health system, holdingtraining classes for high-risk mothers and providing a suitable diet for all mothers, especially mothers withmultiple children, can play an effective role in reduce the low birth weight of babies

کلیدواژه ها:

Low birth weight ، Infants ، Low weight ، Pregnancy