Socioeconomic inequalities and the risk of low birth weight among mothers in urban and rural areas

Living in rural area is described as an unfavourable factor having the influence on the risk of low birth weight. Aim Aim of study is to evaluate the risk of low birth weight according to socio-economic factors among mothers in urban and rural areas. Methods Case-control study involved 851 newborns with low birth weight (<2500 g) and 851 normal weight newborns. Study was accomplished from 2001–02–01 until 2002–10–31 in six main maternity hospitals in Lithuania. Mothers of newborns were interviewed on the first or second day after delivery using the structured questionnaire. The database was processed by the application of statistical package SPSS for Windows v.10.0. Results Prevalence of unfavourable socio-economic factors (e.g. low education, unstable marital status, low income, unemployment and older maternal age) among mothers in rural areas was higher (16.7–66.0 percent), if compared to mothers in urban areas (10.5–35.2 percent), with the clear tendency to be even higher among cases if compared to controls. Risk of low birth weight was significantly higher for mothers in rural areas in the univariate stratified analysis. Mothers living in rural areas who were unemployed or had unstable marital status were at the highest risk to deliver low birth weight baby – OR – 3.0 and 2.8 respectively, if compared to mothers in urban areas. Low income among mothers in rural areas increased the risk of low birth weight by 2.6 times, while older mothers in rural areas had 1.9-fold higher risk of low birth weight, if compared to mothers in urban areas. [...].