Long-term height gain of prematurely born children with neonatal growth restraint: parallellism with the growth pattern of short children born small for gestational age.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
It is unknown whether children born very preterm (< 32 weeks' gestation) with appropriate size for gestational age, who grow poorly in the first postnatal months (ie, preterm growth restraint), show a similar growth pattern as children born small for gestational age.

OBJECTIVE:
Childhood growth and adult height of children with preterm growth restraint were compared to those of very preterm small-for-gestational-age and non-preterm-growth-restraint children.

METHODS:
Data were drawn from the Project on Preterm and Small-for-Gestational-Age Infants cohort. Preterm growth restraint was considered to have occurred after appropriate-size-for-gestational-age birth and if length and/or weight was below -2 SD score at 3 months postterm.

RESULTS:
Among 380 very preterm children, 274 experienced no preterm growth restraint and showed near-normal growth, whereas 79 (21%) experienced preterm growth restraint and subsequently displayed a growth pattern similar to that of very preterm small-for-gestational-age children (n = 27). Adult height of these children was -1.1 to -1.2 SD score. Very preterm small-for-gestational-age and preterm-growth-restraint children with a height below -2 SD score at 5 years had an adult height of approximately -2.5 SD score.

CONCLUSIONS:
Childhood growth and adult height were similar in very preterm small-for-gestational-age and preterm-growth-restraint children. These long-term findings further strengthen the plausibility of extending the small-for-gestational-age indication for growth hormone therapy in such a way that preterm-growth-restraint children are no longer excluded if they have a short stature persisting beyond the age of approximately 5 years.

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Author information

Author/s: Finken, Martijn J J (MJ); Dekker, Friedo W (FW); de Zegher, Francis (F); Wit, Jan M (JM); Dutch Project on Preterm and Small-for-Gestational-Age-19 Collaborative Study Group;

Affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, Netherlands. m.j.j.finken(-atsign-)lumc.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Pediatrics (Pediatrics), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Aug; vol 118 (issue 2) : pp 640-3

Dates: Created 2006/08/02; Completed 2006/09/11; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16882818, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Body Height
Cohort Studies
Dwarfism - epidemiology; etiology
Female
Fetal Growth Retardation - epidemiology
Follow-Up Studies
Growth

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