Does maternal coffee consumption affect birth weight? A comparative cross sectional study on postnatal mothers from health facilities in southwest showa, oromia region

Abstract

Background;-World Health Organization estimates that 26 million low birth weight infants are born each year(birth weight less than 2.5kg), constituting 17% of all births, nearly 95% of them in the developing world. Babies with LBW are more prone to death in neonatal and infancy periods than those with normal birth weight. LBW is a major problem for developing countries. Caffeine intake during pregnancy has also been suggested as a risk factor for birth weight like coffee, tea, chocolate/cocoa, and cola soft drinks which are a major source of caffeine. Objective;- The objective of this study was to assess level of coffee consumption during pregnancy and its association with birth weight among postnatal mothers in health facilities 4 selected woredas in south west Shewa zone, Oromiya. Methods: Facility based comparative cross sectional study design was conducted on post natal mothers from randomly selected four woredas in south west Shewa zone of Oromiya. 342 total study subjects were classified into 171(48.6%) normal coffee consumers mothers who were consume < 5 cups(< 350ml) of coffee per day & 171(48.6%) high coffee consumer with > 5 cups (> 350ml) of coffee per day sampled mothers were studied from March 25 –April 23,2014.Multivariate analysis was used to identify independent predictors of birth weight. Result;- Female new born were seven times more likely to had LBW when compared to male new born (AOR.7.361(95% CI =1.025, 52.864 ) and women who had pregnancy interval of < 2 yrs. were 14 times as have LBW baby when compared to those with birth inter pregnancy interval of two years and above( AOR=13.7(95%=CI 2.580,.217) . Mothers with >21 cm MUAC were 97 times less likely to deliver LBW when compared to mothers <21cm MUAC (AOR= 0.031(CI= 0.006, 0.171) and Mothers with current pregnancy medical problem were eight times more likely to deliver LBW baby when compared with those mothers with no medical problem on the current pregnancy with (AOR=7.763(CI= 1.256, 47.983). Conclusion;-This study showed that maternal coffee consumption had insignificant association with birth weight, rather other factors like maternal MUAC, pregnancy birth interval ,sex of the new born and maternal current pregnancy medical problem was independently significant predictors with birth weight.