ABSTRACT
The study was designed to determine the relationship between maternal and neonatal anthropometric parameters among Hausas in Kano. Five hundred and twenty one subjects participated in the study. The anthropometric variables were measured using standard procedures. Pearson's correlation and regression analyses were used to analyze the data using SPSS (IMB, corporation, NY) version 20. Statistical significance was declared at p<0.05. The result shown that the Hausa neonate had mean birth weight (BW) of 3.37kg  0.5cm and birth length (BL) of 49.17Â2.06 cm, whereas the mean value for head circumference (HC), chest circumference (CC), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), hand length, hand breadth, foot length and foot breadth were 35.39  1.80cm, 34.28  2.40cm, 11.02  0.80cm, 6.55  0.65cm, 3.86  0.39cm, 7.96  0.74, 3.82  0.42 respectively. For the maternal parameters: the subjects had mean weight (W), height (H), body mass index (BMI), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), hand length, hand breadth foot length, foot breadth of 58.49kg  10.78, 155.57cm  5.22, 24.15 cm  3.99, 24.88cm  2.87, 17.88  1.138.53  0.67, 23.72  1.62, 9.88  0.82 respectively. The neonatal variable indicated gender differences with exception of BL, CC and MUAC. In term of relationship, maternal parameter correlate with that of neonate, with higher level of significance noted between MA and BW. A regression models generated indicated that BW and BL can be predicted from maternal parameters. Based on the parity, it was noted that the mothers within the 1st category of parity show significant differences (p < 0.001) in the BW and TC of their neonate when compared with 2nd, 3rd and 4th. However, in BL, HC and CC of the neonate the differences (p < 0.001) were observed only between 1st and 2nd category of parity. Moreover, the MUAC has similar pattern with addition to 3rd categories. In conclusion, the maternal age showed highest correlation value (r=0.341) with the birth weight, its potential variable that can be used in determining the size of a newborn.
