Growth impairment in very low birthweight children at 12 years: correlation with perinatal and outcome variables.

Abstract

Aims-To compare the growth of very low birthweight (VLBW) children in early adolescence with that of their normal birthweight peers; to examine the role of factors contributing to growth-parental height, perinatal variables, bone maturity and sexual maturation; to examine the correlation between head growth and cognitive and educational outcome. Methods-Standing and sitting heights, weight, occipito-frontal circumference (OFC), skinfold thicknesses and pubertal staging were assessed in 137 VLBW children and 160 controls at 11-13.5 years of age. Ninety six (70%) of the VLBW children had their bone age assessed using the TW2 method. Reported parental heights were obtained by questionnaire.

Growth Trajectories of Preterm Infants: Birth to 12 Years

“…Three reports from preterm cohorts born between 1977 and 1984, earlier than the present sample, found no FTpreterm differences in sexual maturity using the same measure, Tanner stages. Neither PeraltaCarcelen and colleagues (2000), who compared adolescents born ELBW and NBW at age 14½ years, nor Ford et al (2000), who compared ELBW, VLBW and NBW adolescents at age 14 years, nor Powls et al (1996), who compared VLBW and NBW adolescents at age 12 years, found pubertal development differences. Collectively, these results contradict reports of preterm children born in the 1970s of early sexual maturity for children born prematurely (Nelson, 1983).…”

“…At age 14 years, the VLBW group had later catch-up weight from age 8 years compared with the NBW group; although still lighter (girls = 7.3 kg; boys = 8.3 kg), they remained shorter by 4.5 cm for girls and 5.8 cm for boys (Doyle, 2000). Powls et al (1996) reported a mean VLBW height difference of 4.1 cm at age 12 years. We found larger differences compared with the FT group for the SGA boys (6.4 cm), SGA girls (8.5 cm), MPT boys (5.8 cm), and NPT boys (5.3 cm).…”

“…Birth weight added only a small effect to the models for weight trajectories. Powls et al (1996) tested the effect of birth weight, birth weight for gestational age, gestation, sex, cystic periventricular leukomalacia, IVH (grade 2 or above), and neonatal convulsions on age 12 years height and reported only 3% variance accounted by one variable, birth weight for gestational age. Hack et al (2003) found birth weight z score and duration of neonatal hospitalization to be a significant predictor of 20-year growth attainment.…”

“…children include birth weight, small for gestational age (SGA) status (Ford et al; Powls et al; Saigal et al), neurologic impairment and neonatal illnesses, parental height (AlbertssonWiklund & Karlberg, 1994;Powls et al;Saigal et al), and social class (Vrlenich et al, 1995). As for sex, Hack et al (2003) speculated that the higher incidence of neonatal complications in males may be one factor explaining why they showed less growth than females at age 20 years.…”

Body Weight Percentile of Children with Cerebral Palsy

“…Bu sonuca paralel olarak nörogelişimsel bozukluğu olan çocuklarda yapılan bir çalışmada düşük doğum ağırlığı olan bebeklerin 12 yaş vücut ağırlığı persentilinde de anlamlı düşüklük bulunmuş (14) .…”