Objective: To determine the frequencies of small birth-weight for gestational age newborns in five Croatian regional maternal hospitals. To analyze the influence of complications and interventions in pregnancies and mother age on births of small-for-gestational age newborns.
Methods: Based on the sample of live births full-term newborns from singleton pregnancies born between January 1st and December 31st, 2000, in five Croatian regions, tables of percentiles were created and selected small-for-gestational-age newborns from them. Infants with congenital malformations, births with incomplete records in hospital database and stillbirths were excluded. Percentage of newborns with complication in pregnancy and with interventions was analyzed by mother age, mode of delivery and by sex.
Results: In five Croatian regions 10.9% small-for-gestational-age term newborns were born. Small-for-gestational-age newborns were born more often from pregnancy with complications (p<0.0001), with interventions (p<0.0001) and from teenage mothers pregnancies (p<0.0001). Those infants born with Cesarean Section are more frequent in relation to other newborns (p<0.0001). Observed were lower means of birth-weight, birth-length and head circumference compared to those from control group (p<0.0001). Birth-weight of term small-for-gestational age newborns was statistically lower in cases of pregnancy with complications (p<0.026) and interventions (p<0.028) compared to small-for-gestational-age newborns from regular pregnancy. Varazdin region had the highest percentage of term born small-for-gestational-age newborns (13.8%) and Sibenik region the lowest (5.9%). Birth-weight means on the 10th percentile level were different from published standards of growth in Croatia and foreign countries.
Conclusion: Each tenth newborn from one population is born with low birth-weight. For some of them we know they came from pregnancies with complications or interventions and from teenage mothers' pregnancies, but for large part of them the cause is still unknown.