ABSTRACT

This paper discusses distribution of' birth lengths and level of preterm babies in Abia State. The data used for this work is a secondary data collected from the maternity section of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Umuahia on live birth cases. The data was tested for normality and constant variances using the chi-square goodness of fit and Bartlett's test respectively. The results of the analyses shows that the data on birth length is normally distributed with mean 48. 164cm and standard deviation 4.441cm. It also has a constant variances. The birth lengths was correlated with the background characteristics. The coefficients of correlation were tested which only the weights of the baby and the lengths of the baby has a significant linear relationship. So simple linear regression analysis was applied to regress the birth lengths on the birth weights, which the regression equation was given by Y37.04 ±3.86 X1 . This was used to predict the birth lengths 1'or a given values of birth weight. The estimation of preterm babies is about 22% which suggest high risks to which lives are exposed. Therefore, the encouragement of timely antenatal care among pregnant women have to be improve.