Shabnam Iqbal Memon, Ammarah Jamal, Iqbal Amemon.
Anthropometric measurements at birth in babies born at Civil Hospital Karachi.
Pak Paed J Jan ;33(3):185-90.

Objective: To document the anthropometric measurements of live newborns delivered at Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK). Study Design: Cross sectional survey Setting: Obstetrics & Gynaecology (OBGYN) unit of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) & Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) over a period of two years from Jan 2000-Dec2002 Material & Methods: The data of a total of 1824 consecutive live newborns delivered between 28th -42nd weeks of gestation was collected on predeveloped proforma with in 24 hours of their birth by the resident medical officers (RMOs) of the Paediatric unit II of CHK. The RMOs who were posted at the OBGYN unit III were given instructions and demonstrations regarding the methods employed for measuring and recording the data. The babies were assessed for weight, length, fronto-occipital circumference (FOC) according to the standard techniques described in literature. The maturity (term, preterm or post term) was assessed according to the gestational age recorded in the mother’s case files or by the Quick scoring system if the records were insufficient. Data tabulated was analyzed for averages, ranges, standard deviations and percentages using SPSS 10. Results: There were 1517 (83.16%) term deliveries, preterm and post term contributed 289 (15.84%) and 18 (0.98%) each to the total deliveries of 1824. Average birth weight in full term babies was 3.1 kg. A total of 186 (10.2%) babies were found to be LBW. Average length in term babies was found to be 48.6cm while the average head circumference was 34.2cm. The average birth length of the term LBW babies was found to be shorter than the average birth length of the term babies with normal weights. The measurements increased proportionately with the increasing gestational age. Conclusion: The average birth weight, birth length and the FOC are comparable with the national standards as described by the WHO and with most of the national and international figures. The overall rate of LBW and prematurity was found to be lower than the national standards despite the fact that this data is from a public sector hospital. Since our study is limited to a small section of the community we need to pool a larger data to make comparisons with the national standards.

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