Effect of Maternal Indices on Fetal Outcomes in a Primary Health Care Centre

It is well known that perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates are functions of birth weight. In the present study. the effects of maternal indices on the fetal outcome were investigated. A total of Two hundred consenting pregnant mothers who delivered between 2007-2010 in a primary Health Care centre in Delta State, Nigeria were recruited for the study. Those who had chronic ailments or pregnancy complications were excluded from this study. The data collected includes maternal weight. maternal age, gestational age, sex of baby. The result shows a significant (p<0.05) relationship between the mean maternal weight, mean maternal age and mean gestational age with the mean birth weight and also a non significant relationship between the sex of babies with birth weight and gestational length. Therefore, it is advocated that special attention should be given to pregnant women during antenatal care/prenatal care in order to minimize or eliminate the complications associated with low birth weight delivery.