Factors Associated with Low Birth Weight in Reference Hospital Structures in Kisangani, Tshopo Province in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Context and objective: Low Birth Weight (LBW) is a health phenomenon which exposes one to morbid perinatal, neonatal and post-neonatal mortality and which sometimes presents irreversible handicaps. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), LBW is associated with almost 80% of neonatal deaths worldwide and approximately 20 million children are born each year worldwide with a birth weight less than 2500g. The objective of the present study was to determine the factors associated with FPN in order to contribute to the reduction of morbid infant mortality in the city of Kisangani. Methods: A matched case-control study was carried out with 124 cases against 248 controls in 4 reference maternity hospitals in the city of Kisangani thanks to the documentary review of the medical files of mothers carrying single-fetal pregnancies who gave birth to live children from January 2021 to December 2021. The files were divided into two groups: cases (mothers with newborns whose BW was <2500 gr) and controls (mothers with newborns whose BW was ≥ 2500 g). The data were collected electronically, with the ODK collection V 2022.2.3 application and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25 software. Multivariate logistic regression at the 5% significance level made it possible to identify the factors associated with FPN. Results:The magnitude of FPN was 9.5% ( 95% CI 7.9-11.1%);primiparity ORa 1.810 ( 95% CI 1.029-3.184)and overweight ORa 0.562 ( 95% CI 0.325-0.972)were significantly associated with FPN in the Kisangani reference structures.Conclusion: In this study, mothers' primiparity constituted the only risk factor associated with LBW.Thus, actions will be focused on health education and community awareness of firsttime mothers to fight against FPN.