Introduction:

low birth weight has been defined by the World Health Organization as a birth weight less than 2,500 grams (5 pounds, 8 ounces), regardless of gestational age and no matter what the cause is. It is the most important predictive index of child mortality, especially to the neonatal mortality risk.

Objective:

to characterize the risk factors of low birth weight in San Juan y Martínez municipality from October 2015 to April 2016.

Methods:

an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out. The target group was comprised of 242 pregnant women who gave birth during the period studied. The sample included 23 pregnant women having the same number of low weight newborn babies who satisfied the inclusion criteria established in the research.

Results:

according to age group, 39,1 % of women were between 23 and 27 years old, 60,8 % of those who had low weight babies were smokers, followed by those who drank coffee with 56,5 %; among them 43,5 % had a preterm gestational age, the conditions associated with pregnancy were: anemia in 34,8 %, followed by 30,4 % with vaginal infection; it was found that 39,1 % presented a nutritional assessment of malnourished, maintaining a regular weight gain during pregnancy.

Conclusions:

the better knowledge pregnant women should have concerning the behavior of risk factors associated with low birth weight contributes to improve the healthcare they ought to be provided.

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