Physical growth pattern and morbidity of LBW babies in a slum of Kolkata

One in three babies in India are born with moderate to severe malnutrition with birth weight of 2500 gm or below. Babies having low birth weight are more susceptible to infection and they do not grow to their full potential of physical and mental abilities and start their life at disadvantage leading to high infant morbidity and mortality. Hence it is imperative to identify the newborns with low birth weight and to offer them adequate and needed care instantly for their survival 147. A prospective longitudinal community based study was carried out in the field practice area of Urban Health Centre, Chetla, Kolkata from May 2004 – April 2005 among 126 infants born during the first three months of the study period to analyze the following objectives: 1. To study the incidence of low birth weight babies among the study subjects and find out the effect of certain socio demographic factors on their causation. 2. To compare the physical growth pattern of low birth weight and normal birth weight babies under study. 3. To find out the frequency and type of morbidity among low birth weight and normal birth weight babies under study.