Grah Kouassi Blah Charlotte Marie Pascaline¹, Gbakayoro Jean-Brice^1,, Kunindjani Adou Koffi¹, Brou Kouakou¹

Low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health problem, due to its magnitude and its strong association with infant morbidity and mortality. To identify socioeconomic and demographic factors of pregnant women that could be related to low birth weight babies in eight general hospitals in the District of Abidjan. This is a prospective descriptive study of a cohort of 1600 women who gave their consent, which focused on the analysis of obstetric records and the taking of in situ measurements of certain characteristics of parturients and their newborns having been admitted to the maternity wards of 8 general hospitals in the district of Abidjan (general hospitals of Abobo, Anyama, Bingerville, Koumassi, Marcory, Treichville, Port-Bout and Yopougon). The majority of the women interviewed (57%) were between 20 and 30 years old. A total of 38.6% of the women surveyed were in their first pregnancy and 71.22% were cohabiting with their spouses. On average, each pregnant woman lived in a household of four (4) people whose daily budget for food varied between 2000 and 3000 FCFA (FCFA: Franc of the French Colonies of Africa, currency used by several groups of countries in Africa and the Pacific zone). More than half of women working during pregnancy (54.7%) continued their gainful activities after the eighth month of pregnancy. The practice of a particular activity such as housework increases the risk of giving birth to a low birth weight baby (P=0.045*). Examination of the impact of the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of pregnant women on the birth weight of the baby showed that only the practice of activities, in particular household activities, during pregnancy represents a risk factor for FPN.

sociodemographic characteristics, low birth weight, Abidjan, Ivory Coast