ASSESSMENT OF HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE AND CORE BODY TEMPERATURE IN RELATION TO BIRTH WEIGHT OF TERM EARLY NEONATES

Dr. Gauranga Biswas; Dr. Anish Bhowmik

Volume : VIII, Issue : VI, June - 2019

ASSESSMENT OF HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE AND CORE BODY TEMPERATURE IN RELATION TO BIRTH WEIGHT OF TERM EARLY NEONATES

Dr. Gauranga Biswas, Dr. Anish Bhowmik

Abstract :

Newborn babies are unique in their physiology and encountered health-related problems. Birth weight is generally used as a yardstick of maturity because of its sensitive correlation with gestation and is also considered to be an important determinant of child survival and development. An early identification and immediate direct interventions may result in high-risk infants catching up with their healthy contemporaries, which warrant the need for simple, alternate and reliable predictor(s) of birth-weight - especially during non-institutional deliveries with limited resources. This tertiary care-based observational study included recording and analysis of birth-weight, axillary temperature and head circumference of 500 apparently healthy, singleton, term early neonates. These three parameters significantly (p<0.0001) correlated with each other and thus the later two shows promise in serving the purpose. Considering the limitations inherent to the study, need for further exploration to set new standards of normal ranges for the said alternate predictors of body weight is suggested.