A multiple regression analysis of variables influencing birthweight.

Birthweights recorded in a rural maternity centre (1979-1981) in Tanzania are related to parity, gestational age, maternal weight, sex of the child, maternal weight gain in pregnancy, intensity of antenatal care, and systolic blood pressure. The interrelations between these variables were analysed so as to discover their relative importance as determinants of birthweight variations. Only lengths of gestation, parity, sex, and maternal weight were retained in a general model explaining 29 percent of the total variance of birthweight. Short gestation accounted for 70 percent of all cases with low birthweight. For intervention purposes the further study of the causes of short gestation is therefore recommended.