$100Kitchen and Low-birth-weight Study in Rural Bangladesh
Condition: Pregnant Women; Low-Birth-Weight Infant
MeSH terms: Body Weight; Birth Weight
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2

Summary: 
      Low-birth-weight (LBW) is a major adverse pregnancy outcome in resource-poor countries. About
      28% of all neonatal deaths worldwide are directly attributed to LBW. Exposure to biomass fuel
      during cooking is associated with LBW. There is unlikely to be any significant change in the
      use of biomass fuels in the near future, therefore, interventions targeted to reduce the
      harmful effects on poor pregnancy outcomes is warranted. To address this need, the
      investigators proposed a locally-made inexpensive prefabricated model of the
      "100-dollar-kitchen"($100Kitchen) with an improved cookstove for resource-poor settings. The
      improved cookstove of the $100Kitchen ensure complete incineration of the biomass fuels and
      thus, provided safeguard to the pregnant women using these fuels. This study has been
      measured the impact of our '$100Kitchen and improved cookstove' intervention as to whether a
      pregnant woman residing in a household with a '$100Kitchen and improved cookstove' is less
      likely to give birth to a LBW newborn. A cluster-randomized controlled trial has been adopted
      in Shahjadpur sub-district in Bangladesh and 628 and 639 pregnant women at 8-12 weeks
      gestational age enrolled for each intervention and control area respectively and followed-up
      through 42-days post-delivery. Birth outcomes have been noted and the newborns have been
      weighted within 72-hrs of the delivery. Non-invasive maternal blood Carbon Monoxide
      Hemoglobin saturation (SpCO) level between the intervention and control groups have also been
      measured.
    

Detailed description: 
      A single-stage cluster sampling was followed. All the 'mouzas' (revenue villages) in
      Shahjadpur sub-district were divided into clusters so that each cluster contained a
      population of about 3,000. This generated 188 clusters. 104 out of 188 clusters-52 clusters
      for the intervention and 52 clusters for the control group - were randomly selected for the
      study to enroll the required 1300 pregnant women. Each cluster was then randomly allocated to
      either the intervention or control group using a computer generated random sequence. The
      random allocation sequence was generated independently by a statistician, who had no further
      involvement with the study. Once allocated, in each cluster all the eligible pregnant women
      were identified, invited, and enrolled during door-to-door visits by the project field staff.
      The field staff included female health workers, with the help of existing government
      community health workers such as family welfare assistants. A total of 628 eligible pregnant
      women were enrolled in the intervention clusters and a total of 639 eligible pregnant women
      in the control clusters. During the enrolment in the intervention clusters, a $100Kitchen
      with the improved cookstoves was installed at each of the 628 pregnant women's households
      following the verbal and written consent of the women and the household head.
    

Intervention name(s): '$100Kitchen and improved cookstove'
Intervention type(s): Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Investigator)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Low-birth-weight; Model kitchen; Improved cookstove