Commentary on Prevention of Low Birthweight in Low-Income Societies

摘要

Poor pregnancy outcomes remain a significant public health problem in many-parts of the world with an estimated 18 million newborns born with low birth-weight (LBW; weighing <2,500 g at birth) each year in the lower income countries [1]. More than half of these infants are born in South Asia, which has the highest incidence of LBW by far, at 27% [2]. Infants born with LBW either due to prematurity, or due to being born small for their gestational age, or both, are known to be at risk of increased mortality and morbidity throughout childhood [3]. LBW may also impact adult health: in follow-up studies of historic cohorts from transitional countries, associations of LBW and underweight and stunting (i.e. being short for age) in young children with later occurrence of central obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease have been reported [4]. Moreover, women who had been malnourished themselves during gestation and early childhood are more likely to give birth to LBW infants, thus contributing to the transgenerational cycle of malnutrition and poverty [4].