Department of Foods and Nutrition, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2011 Sep;20(9):1373-82. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2010.2428. Epub 2011 Jul 18.
The prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health issue in India (30.0%) and is the highest among South-Asian countries. Maternal autonomy or the mother's status in the household indicates her decision-making power with respect to movement, finance, healthcare use, and other household activities. Evidence suggests that autonomy of the mother is significantly associated with the child's nutritional status. Although previous studies in India reported the determinants of LBW, literature on the association between mother's autonomy and birth weight are lacking. This study, therefore, aims to examine the influence of maternal autonomy on birth weight of the newborn.
The study, a secondary data analysis, examined data from the 2005-2006 National Health and Family Survey (NFHS 3) of India. A maternal autonomy score was created through proximal component factor analysis and categorized as high, medium, and low autonomy levels. The main outcome variable included birth weight of the index child obtained from health cards and mother's recall. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed.
Results from the study indicate that 20.0% of the index children included in the analysis were born at LBW. Low maternal autonomy was an independent predictor of LBW (odds ratio [OR] 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07-1.53, p=0.007) after adjusting for other factors, and medium autonomy level was not significant.
These findings clearly indicate the importance of empowering women in India to combat the high incidence of LBW.
低出生体重（LBW）的发生率是印度（30.0%）的一个主要公共卫生问题，在南亚国家中是最高的。产妇自主权或母亲在家庭中的地位表明了她在行动、财务、医疗保健使用和其他家庭活动方面的决策权。有证据表明，母亲的自主权与孩子的营养状况有显著关联。尽管印度之前的研究报告了 LBW 的决定因素，但缺乏关于母亲自主权与出生体重之间关联的文献。因此，本研究旨在探讨产妇自主权对新生儿出生体重的影响。
本研究是一项二次数据分析，研究对象为印度 2005-2006 年国家健康与家庭调查（NFHS 3）的数据。通过近侧成分因子分析创建了一个产妇自主权评分，并将其分为高、中、低自主权水平。主要结局变量包括从健康卡和母亲回忆中获得的指数儿童的出生体重。进行了描述性和逻辑回归分析。
研究结果表明，在纳入分析的指数儿童中，有 20.0%出生时体重较低。在调整其他因素后，低产妇自主权是 LBW 的独立预测因素（比值比[OR] 1.28，95%置信区间[CI] 1.07-1.53，p=0.007），而中等自主权水平则不显著。
这些发现清楚地表明，印度需要赋予妇女权力，以应对 LBW 的高发生率。
