Authors : Meghali Joharapurkar & Rekha Sharma
Page Nos : 106-113
Description :
Pregnancy is one of the most critical and unique period in a women’s life cycle. The critical place that pregnancy occupies in the chain of life has health and social importance for individuals, families and society as a whole. The study was carried out in the Private Maternity Hospitals (PMH) and Government Medical Hospitals (GMH), Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. About 285 and 215 pregnant mothers in the third trimester were selected from PMH and GMH using purposive sampling. The demographic profile of subjects was collected through questionnaire- cum- interview schedule. The anthropometric measurements viz., birth weight, crown heel length, head circumference, chest circumference and mid upper arm circumference were measured by standard techniques. The results of the study showed that monthly income (r = 0.219, p < 0.01; r = 0.225, p < 0.01), per capita income ( r = 0.164 , p < 0.01 ; r = 0.201 , p < 0.01 ) and husband’s age ( r = 0.125, p < 0.05; r = 0.155 , p < 0.05 ) of PMH and GMH mothers showed significant correlations with birth weight of infants. PMH mothers age (r = 0.141, p < 0.05) and GMH mothers education (r = 0.169, p < 0.05) and husbands education (r = 0.185, p < 0.01) showed negligible but positive and significant correlations with birth weight of infants. The results reveal that socioeconomic status plays an important role in determining nutritional status of the mothers and health of the newborns.
