Anthropometric and Other Assessment Indices of the Newborn in Jos, Nigeria

Background: Certain neonatal measurements are potential tools for evaluating the status of the newborn. The neonatal anthropometrics measurements and other assessment indices are therefore religiously performed by the attending midwife and entered into the labour room register. Method: This was a retrospective analysis of the infants delivered between January 2004 and December 2005 in the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Results: There were 4,266 deliveries during the study period. The mean age and parity of the mothers were 28.7 ± 5.8 and 3.0 ± 1.9 respectively. The mean gestational age of the infants at birth was 38.3 ± 2.8 weeks and the mean Apgar scores for the first and fifth minutes were 7.4 ± 1.7 and 8.5 ± 1.5 respectively. The mean birth weight of the babies was 3.1 ± 0.8 kg. The mean birth length and head circumference of the newborns were 47.2 ± 5.0 cm and 33.8 ± 2.9 cm respectively. The mean umbilical cord length was 52.9 ± 7.3 cm and the mean placental weight was 560 ± 118 grams. There were more male infants (53.1%) compared with female infants (46.9%) during the period of study. Twin infants contributed 3.8% of the deliveries in the study. Conclusion: Anthropometric and other assessments indices of the newborn infants at birth in Jos, Nigeria are similar to those in other parts of the country and the world.