THE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS – A RISK FACTOR FOR THE LOW BIRTH WEIGHT
THE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS – A RISK FACTOR FOR THE LOW BIRTH WEIGHT

Summary/Abstract: The birth weight is one of the most important indicators of a mother’s health in both developed and developing countries. Low birth weight is considered a risk factor for the development of malnutrition, recurrent infections and neuro-psychological deficiencies and is influenced by social and economic factors: precarious social and economic level, birth environment, nutritional deficiencies, low education level, and professional as well, marital status and under-age mothers. Another important aspect is represented by the deficitary checks on pregnant women. The main objectives of this research were selection, synthesis, discussion and presentation of the current relationship between the social-economic status and the low birth weight. The research was undertaken in the Department of Paediatric Recovery from “Saint Mary” Children Hospital in Iasi in collaboration to the Department of Primary Care and Epidemiology from “Gr. T. Popa” University of Medicine Iasi. The group under study included mostly female infants (56.1%). Most infants came from the countryside (80.5%), from families with a low social-economic level (95.93%), with 1-4 children (73.98%), with both parents present in more than half of the cases (55.28%). Most of the infants (82- 66.66%) came from mothers of low education, unemployed (91.87%). The pregnancies were kept under observation in 76 cases (61.79%). We consider important to tackle malnutrition not only medically but also socially because if infants return to the same family environment this leads to recurrent malnutrition, being disadvantaged by maintaining a vicious circle.

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