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A new growth chart for preterm babies: Babson and Benda's chart updated with recent data and a new format
1Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1, Canada. tanisfenton@shaw.ca
Insights
An updated fetal-infant growth chart, starting at 22 weeks, was developed using meta-analysis. This new chart reveals that preterm infants often experience growth retardation in weight and length, despite normal head growth.
Area of Science:
- Neonatalogy
- Pediatric Growth Monitoring
- Evidence-Based Medicine
Background:
- The 1976 Babson and Benda fetal-infant growth graph is standard in neonatal intensive care but has limitations.
- Limitations include a small sample size, a 26-week starting point, and 500-gram increments, affecting data confidence at extremes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an updated, more accurate fetal-infant growth chart for preterm infants.
- The new chart extends to 22 weeks gestation and is based on a meta-analysis of recent studies.
Main Methods:
- A literature search (1980-2002) identified large-sample population studies for updated growth data.
- The new chart was compared to the Babson and Benda graph.
- Growth data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network (NICHD) were used for validation.
Main Results:
- The updated chart shows similar patterns to the older graph, with statistically significant differences post-term.
- Babson's 10th percentiles for weight, head circumference, and length fell within broader ranges of the new data.
- NICHD infants' growth deviated from the chart curves early on; at 2kg, head growth was above the 10th percentile, but weight and length remained below the 3rd percentile.
Conclusions:
- The updated chart enables growth comparison from 22 weeks gestation through 10 weeks post-term.
- Analysis of NICHD infants suggests average growth retardation in weight and length for preterm infants, with head growth catching up.
- Further validation is required due to potential data heterogeneity in the meta-analysis.
Background:
The Babson and Benda 1976 "fetal-infant growth graph" for preterm infants is commonly used in neonatal intensive care. Its limits include the small sample size which provides low confidence in the extremes of the data, the 26 weeks start and the 500 gram graph increments. The purpose of this study was to develop an updated growth chart beginning at 22 weeks based on a meta-analysis of published reference studies.
Methods:
The literature was searched from 1980 to 2002 for more recent data to complete the pre and post term sections of the chart. Data were selected from population studies with large sample sizes. Comparisons were made between the new chart and the Babson and Benda graph. To validate the growth chart the growth results from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network (NICHD) were superimposed on the new chart.
Results:
The new data produced curves that generally followed patterns similar to the old growth graph. Mean differences between the curves of the two charts reached statistical significance after term. Babson's 10th percentiles fell between the new data percentiles: the 5th to 17th for weight, the 5th and 15th for head circumference, and the 6th and 16th for length. The growth patterns of the NICHD infants deviated away from the curves of the chart in the first weeks after birth. When the infants reached an average weight of 2 kilograms, those with a birthweight in the range of 700 to 1000 grams had achieved greater than the 10th percentile on average for head growth, but remained below the 3rd percentile for weight and length.
Conclusion:
The updated growth chart allows a comparison of an infant's growth first with the fetus as early as 22 weeks and then with the term infant to 10 weeks. Comparison of the size of the NICHD infants at a weight of 2 kilograms provides evidence that on average preterm infants are growth retarded with respect to weight and length while their head size has caught up to birth percentiles. As with all meta-analyses, the validity of this growth chart is limited by the heterogeneity of the data sources. Further validation is needed to illustrate the growth patterns of preterm infants to older ages.
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