ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2022
Antenatal care attendance and low birth weight of institutional births in sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Assessing the nutritional status and micronutrient gaps in Sierra Leone: a systematic rapid review of women, children, and adolescents.BMC nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of antenatal care on low birth weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis in Africa, 2022.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Predictors of low birth weight: a hospital-based matched case-control study in the Ashanti region, Ghana.Global epidemiology · 2026Article
- Predicting abnormal birth weight and identifying associated factors using machine learning in the Hararghe Health and Demographic Surveillance System, Ethiopia.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Assessing antenatal care utilization, socioeconomic inequalities and low birth weight outcomes: a population-based analysis using the 2022 Ghana demographic and health survey data.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Effect of completing eight or more antenatal care contacts on adverse pregnancy outcomes in a district hospital in Ghana: A propensity score-matched and doubly robust analysis.Global epidemiology · 2026Article
- Adequacy of antenatal care and maternal smoking: impacts on gestational age and birth weight among preterm births in a high-risk referral cohort in Western Iran.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Low Birth Weight and Associated Factors in Sudan: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Quality of first antenatal care visits and perinatal outcomes: Evidence from a cohort study in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and India.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Antenatal care utilization and low birth weight in Zambia: Evidence from the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Association between out-of-pocket health expenditures and low birth weight in Eastern Ethiopia: a generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM).BMC public health · 2025Article
- Prevalence and determinants of macrosomia in low- and middle-income countries: a multilevel analysis of population survey data from 44 nations.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2025Article
- Age-related disparities and spatial distribution of low birthweight in sub-Saharan Africa: using data from demographic and health survey.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Factors Associated With Low Birth Weight Among Under-Five Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence From Demographic and Health Surveys of 58,857 Children.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Effect of antenatal care on birth outcomes in the Gambia: A propensity score matching analysis.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Machine learning based prediction of low birth weight and its associated risk factors: Insights from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Enhancing birth weight outcomes through improved antenatal care in West African countries: Evidence from propensity score matching analysis.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLow birth weight (LBW) remains a major health problem that affects newborns worldwide. However, there has been growing evidence that antenatal care (ANC) is associated with LBW. Yet, there is a dearth of research investigating the association between ANC attendance and LBW in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study examined the association between the number of ANC visits and LBW using data from 10 sub-Saharan African countries.
methodsThis study pooled data from the recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 10 sub-Saharan African countries conducted from 2018 to 2020. A total of 33,585 women aged 15-49 who had live births in the five years preceding the survey were included in this study. Bivariable and multivariable multilevel regression models were fitted to show the association between the number of ANC visits and LBW. Crude odds ratio (cOR) and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) at 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used in presenting the results of the regression analysis.
resultsThe pooled prevalence of LBW was 5.7%. The highest prevalence of LBW was recorded in Gambia (7.2%) with the lowest found in Sierra Leone (2.9%). In terms of eight or more ANC visits, the overall prevalence was 14.5%. Nigeria had the highest prevalence of eight or more ANC visits (43.5%) with the lowest in Rwanda (0.2%). We found a statistically significant association between the number of ANC visits and LBW. Mothers who had eight or more ANC visits were less likely to have LBW children compared to mothers who had less than eight ANC visits [cOR = 0.66; CI = 0.55 - 0.79] and this persisted after controlling for the covariates [aOR = 0.68; CI = 0.56 - 0.82]. Covariates associated with LBW were maternal age, marital status, level of education, age of child, and wealth index.
conclusionThis study has shown a statistically significant association between ANC and LBW in SSA, with women who had eight or more ANC visits being at lower risks of giving birth to children with LBW. We found that eight or more ANC attendance was a protective factor against LBW in SSA. Therefore, it is important for sub-Saharan African countries with low prevalence of eight or more ANC attendance and high LBW prevalence to channel their efforts towards promoting more ANC attendance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.