Feeding habits, nutritional status of pregnant women, and low birth weight in the health district of Garoua I, North Cameroon: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Low birth weight is a public health problem in developing countries, and this can be linked to food practices and nutritional status of women before and during the pregnancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of food practices and nutritional status of pregnant women on birth weight in the health district of Garoua 1 located in the North-Cameroon. For this purpose, 55 women in the third trimester of pregnancy, attending antenatal care in three health centres of the district were recruited. A questionnaire was administered to them to collect information on sociodemographic and economic characteristics, and antenatal care. This information included age, marital status, matrimonial regime, level of education, number of antenatal clinical visits attended, and profession. The twentyfour-hour dietary recall was used to determine Individual Dietary Diversity Score and Food Consumption Frequency. Body Mass Index and Total Weight Gain were calculated. The results obtained showed that most of pregnant women of Garoua 1 were under-educated, with more than a quarter who had never gone to school, without any source of income, and were housewives. These conditions favour poor food practices as shown by the results which indicated that 25.4% of interviewed women consumed less than three meals per day, and 67.3% had a poor Individual Dietary Diversity Score, indicating that they did not consume more than two food groups per day. Individual Dietary Diversity Score and Food Consumption Frequency of the women significantly influenced (p<0.05) the birth weight of the babies. It is the same for Body Mass Index and Total Weight Gain which had a significant influence (p<0.05) on the birth weight. Indeed, a low Body Mass Index at the beginning of the pregnancy, and insufficient Total Weight Gain during pregnancy increased by 3.35 and 7.12 times, respectively the risk of having an infant with a low birth weight. Nutrition education campaigns to women of childbearing age are recommended to alleviate the problem, and to improve overall living conditions in the community.