Comparative Study of Extremely Low Birth Weight Babies (Elbw) Versus Very Low Birth Weight Babies (Vlbw) Till One Year of Corrected Age in Terms of Growth

Abstract

BACKGROUND Wide-ranging differences in growth exist between full-term babies born with normal weight and those born prematurely. With the exception of infants with severe impairment, infants weighing less than 1500 grams are likely to remain smaller than their normal weight peers at adolescence. WHO defines low birth weight infants as those born with birth weight less than 2500 grams. It is further subdivided into Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) babies: Birth weight < 1500 grams and Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) babies: Birth weight < 1000 grams. Aim-To compare the growth of VLBW babies versus ELBW babies till one year of corrected age. MATERIALS AND METHODSPartially cohort study design in which 60 babies in two groups; Group 1 of 30 babies (extremely low birth weight, i.e. < 1000 gms) and Group 2 of 30 babies (very low birth weight, i.e. < 1500 gms) were followed up till one year of corrected age. Follow-up was done at 3 rd , 6 th , 9 th and 12 th month of corrected age. RESULTSIn this study of total 60 neonates, 30 were ELBW babies and 30 were VLBW babies. In this study, the mean birth weight of ELBW babies was 870 grams and mean birth weight of VLBW babies was 1.2 kg. In this study, there exists a significant difference in the Gestational age of babies in the ELBW and VLBW group. In the ELBW group babies, mean gestational age was 29 weeks which was less than the gestational age of babies in VLBW group, which was 30.03 weeks. On the follow-up of growth at 12 months of corrected age, babies who weighed less than 3 rd centile consisted of 73.1% of ELBW babies and 26.9% of VLBW babies. There was statistical difference between two groups. At 12 months of corrected age, babies whose length was less than 3 rd centile consisted of 53.8% of ELBW babies and 46.2% of VLBW babies, which was statistically insignificant. During follow-up at 12 months of corrected age, babies whose head circumference was less than 1 st centile consisted of 54.5% of ELBW babies and 45.5% of VLBW babies which was statistically insignificant. CONCLUSIONIn this study, on comparing the two groups the growth of ELBW babies faltered more compared to their VLBW counterparts during this one-year follow-up study.