Low Birth Weight and Maternal Education

Abstract

Low infant birth weight (LBW) is a significant indicator of infant mortality, and health risk later in the child’s life. LBW is defined as infants born with a weight of less than 2,500 grams (WHO, 2022). LBW affects societies all over the world from families losing their babies, to the impact of disease on healthcare and society as a whole. "Epidemiological observations depicted that infants born with low birth weight (LBW) [are] approximately 20 times more likely to die than heavier babies, due to a wide range of poor health outcomes" (Shome et al., 2018, p.1).One contributing factor being studied is maternal education level. Socioeconomic status and education level are well known to be associated with poor health outcomes. Education levels of mothers, in most of the studies, are defined as primary, secondary, or higher education. The Purpose of this Evidence-Based Practice Brief is to compare low maternal education levels versus high maternal education levels (independent variables) in predicting the incidences of low birth weight (dependent variable) in infants. LBW has mortal and life-long consequences and understanding the factors that contribute to it help pave the way in preventing LBW, and help nurses understand how best to serve their patients