The World Health Organisation recommends that each country adopts its own cut-off value of low
birth weight (LBW) for clinical use. The aims of this study were to establish a clinical cut-off point for LBW and to
determine its incidence, predictors and complications in a sub-urban area’s hospital of Cameroon.
Low birth weight (LBW) is weight of a newborn lower than the 10th centile for its gestation [1]. The World
Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 15.5 % (over 20 million) of all newborns worldwide have LBW, more
than 95 % of whom reside in the developing world [2]. LBW is associated with up to 60-80 % of neonatal deaths
in these developing countries [3]. The 10th centile used to define LBW is usually set at 2500 g [2], a cut-off value generated from epidemiological observations that morbidity and mortality