Anthropometric measurements of term babies delivered in a mission hospital in Southwest Nigeria

Background: Babies birth anthropometric measurements are useful for retrospective assessment of foetal in utero health status, anticipatory care and growth monitoring. At community level, measurements other than birth weight (BW) may help predict low BW (LBW). Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the mean anthropometric measurements of term babies, its comparability with standard values, acceptable cutoff and surrogate for LBW. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 257 term babies delivered by booked mothers at the Sacred Heart Hospital Abeokuta and selected by systematic random sampling. BW, occipitofrontal circumference (OFC), chest circumference (CC), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and crown-heel length (CHL) were measured, and data were analysed using SPSS version 21 with significant P < 0.05 and confident interval of 95%. Results: Mean BW, CC, OFC, CHL and MUAC were 3.25 ± 0.47 kg, 33.32 ± 1.98 cm, 34.7 ± 1.93 cm, 48.16 ± 2.87 cm and 11.57 ± 1.41 cm, respectively, with no significant mean difference between male and female babies. The mean OFC was higher than the national standard, World Health Organization Multicentre Growth Reference Study (WHO-MGRS) and INTERGROWTH-21. The mean cutoff for LBW was OFC – 31.89 cm, CC – 29.56 cm, CHL– 43.33 cm and MUAC – 9.35 cm (P = 0.000) with OFC being the best surrogate of LBW at Sensitivity, Specificity and Degree of Accuracy/area under the curve of 66.7%, 97.6% and 82.1% respectively. Conclusions: LBW babies had lower mean anthropometric cutoff values at variance from the WHO-MGRS and INTERGROWTH-21. Mean OFC was higher than both standards reflecting the need for cautious interpretation to prevent misdiagnosis of macrocephaly. We recommend OFC as an alternative for predicting LBW when access to weighing scale is a challenge.