Maternal Risk Factors During Pregnancy Associated with Low Birth Weight Infant in Developing Countries: A Scoping Review

Low birth weight (LBW) is still a big issue in developing countries and causes more sickness, death, and health problems later in life for babies. It happens because of many factors that affect the mother during her pregnancy, like her medical condition, birth-related issues, nutrition, social background, lifestyle choices, and access to healthcare. But the information we have is not clear because studies are done in different ways, in different places, and look at different risk factors. This review looked at all the available research to better understand what factors during pregnancy are linked to low birth weight in developing countries. The review followed the PRISMA-ScR guidelines and used the methodological framework from the Joanna Briggs Institute. We did a thorough search on PubMed, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar for studies published from 2021 to 2025. We included main research articles written in English or Indonesian that were done in low- and lower-middle-income countries. We used a standard tool to collect the data and then put the findings together based on themes. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The findings consistently identified maternal medical and obstetric conditions particularly anemia, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preeclampsia, and pregnancy complications as key risk factors for LBW. Poor maternal nutritional status, extreme maternal age, low educational and socioeconomic status, and inadequate antenatal care utilization, especially late initiation and insufficient visits, were also strongly associated with LBW, and then neonatal outcomes related to LBW. Overall, LBW reflects a complex interaction of maternal, social, and health system factors, underscoring the need for integrated maternal health interventions and strengthened evidence-based midwifery practice.