Generating longitudinal growth charts from preterm infants fed to current recommendations

Area of Science:

• Neonatalogy
• Pediatric Growth Monitoring
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Preterm infants require specialized growth monitoring due to altered growth trajectories.
• Current growth charts may not accurately reflect the growth of preterm infants receiving modern nutritional support.
• Establishing benchmarks for early growth in preterm infants is crucial for clinical management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop growth centile charts for very preterm infants using serial measurements.
• To reflect real-world growth patterns in a cohort with nutrient intake close to recommendations.
• To provide a benchmark for achievable early growth in this population.

Main Methods:

• Recruited infants born before 30 weeks gestational age (GA).
• Collected serial data on weight, length, and head circumference.
• Utilized the LMS method to construct centile charts from 24 to 36 weeks corrected GA.

Main Results:

• Median nutrient intake was within 3% of recommendations.
• Generated centile charts for weight, length, and head circumference.
• Developed a web application for plotting infant growth (bit.ly/sotongrowth).

Conclusions:

• The developed charts accurately reflect growth in a real-world cohort of preterm infants.
• These charts serve as a valuable tool for clinicians to assess early growth.
• Demonstrates the feasibility of creating growth charts based on current nutritional recommendations.