Newborn Weight Tool shown to have utility in low- and middle-income countries

(Ginsburg AS et al., Scientific Reports 2023;13:14128 [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-39773-4])

In a study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, investigators compared weight trajectories in the first 5 days after birth among newborns born in a low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) cohort with those used to develop NEWT. Between April 2019 and March 2020, a convenience sample of 741 singleton healthy breastfeeding newborns who weighed ≥ 2000 g at birth were enrolled at selected health facilities in Guinea-Bissau, Nepal, Pakistan, and Uganda. Using a standardized protocol, newborn weights were obtained within 6 hours of birth and at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 days. The trajectories of early newborn weight change in the new cohort were largely similar to those in NEWT, with the exceptions that initial newborn weight loss in Guinea-Bissau was more pronounced than those on NEWT and newborn weight gain following weight nadir was more pronounced in Guinea-Bissau, Pakistan, and Uganda than those in NEWT. The investigators concluded that the data demonstrate that NEWT may have utility in LMIC settings.