[Low birth weight: rate and risk factors in the Guédianwaye district (suburb of Dakar, Senegal)].

The authors report the results of a six months survey about the low weight of birth (L.W.B.) in the district of Guédiawaye, suburb of Dakar. The purpose is to determine the rate of L.W.B. in two main maternity hospitals of that locality and the associated risk factors. It is a survey with a control group. This survey results in a 10.7% rate, according to the data of another retrospective survey in the same maternity hospitals in 1992 (10.03%). The risk factors are mainly: celibacy, primiparity, an associated pathology with the pregnancy, the physical strain of mothers correlated to the income and to the previous L.W.B.