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The Diagnosis of Low Birth Weight Infant Using the Simple Anthropometric Measurement (Diagnosis Bayi Berat Lahir Rendah di Masyarakat dengan Pengukuran Antropometri Sederhana)

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It is essential to weight the baby accurately at birth so that apropriate measures can be taken to minimize the risk. In rural areas, most deliveries occur at home, attended by traditional birth attendants and there is a shortage of weighing scales. Therefore, suitable surrogates for birth weight are needed. A prospective study was conducted to assess the diagnostic performance of four anthropometric measurements (body length, head, chest, and mid-arm circumferences) on low birth weights in 788 singleton newborn infants delivered at Dr. Sardjito Hospital. The proportion of low birth weight infants in this hospital was 13.6 percent. The assessment of diagnostic performance of the surrogate measurements for birth weight was also carried out at 462 infants delivered in rural areas by trained traditional birth attendants/health workers. Application of both measurements as weight surrogate on 462 livebirths in the community setting conducted by birth attendants still revealed significant coefficient correlations of 0.76 and 0.74 for mid-arm and chest circumferences, respectively. Using mid-arm circumference of less than 9.5 centimeter as cut-off level for low birth weight showed sensitivity, specificity and positive values of 0.77, 0.94, and 0.61 ,whereas the figures on chest circumference of less than 29.5 centimeter were 0.74, 0.93 and 0.56, respectively. The results showed that both measurements which are simple, practicable, quick and reliable can be used in estimating low birth weight in the community, especially in areas where accurate weighing is not feasible. Proper management of low birth weight infants can then be started earlier to prevent deleterious condition. The wide application of this procedure will result in the national figure of the rate of low birth weight infants.

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Medika,22(1)1996:16-20

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: ., 1996

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infant, low birth weight
anthropometry

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