Growth curves for preterm infants

Area of Science:

• Neonatalogy
• Pediatric Growth Monitoring
• Infant Nutrition

Background:

• Current growth curves for preterm infants are outdated (40 years old) and may not accurately represent today's premature infant population.
• There is significant uncertainty regarding the most appropriate growth charts for monitoring preterm infant development.
• While achieving intrauterine growth rate is ideal, it's often unfeasible due to prematurity-related morbidities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the limitations of existing growth charts for preterm infants.
• To recommend updated and suitable growth monitoring tools for premature infants.
• To provide guidance on optimizing growth trajectories while considering potential risks.

Main Methods:

• Review and update of the Babson and Benda growth chart using recent, large-scale preterm infant data.
• Integration of World Health Organization (WHO) growth curves for post-corrected age monitoring.
• Consideration of intrauterine growth rate as a benchmark.

Main Results:

• The updated Babson and Benda chart provides a more suitable tool for monitoring preterm infant growth during the preterm period.
• The WHO growth curves are recommended for tracking growth after preterm infants reach a corrected age of 40 weeks.
• Aggressive nutritional strategies and excessive catch-up growth may have short-term and long-term adverse effects, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Updated growth charts, like the revised Babson and Benda, are crucial for accurate preterm infant growth assessment.
• A transition to WHO growth curves at 40 weeks corrected age is advised for continued monitoring.
• Careful consideration of nutritional interventions is necessary to balance growth promotion with the avoidance of adverse outcomes.