Growth Trajectories of Children Born Preterm and Full-Term With Low Birth Weight to Preschool Ages: A Nationwide

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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale

Published on: August 25, 2014

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Jong Ho Cha1, Eungu Kang2, Jae Yoon Na1,3

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University Seoul Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul 04763, Korea.

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
|April 2, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Full-term with low birth weight (FT-LBW) and preterm (PT) infants face higher risks of poor growth. FT-LBW children showed consistently poorer growth trajectories than PT children through preschool years.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Growth Monitoring
  • High-Risk Infant Development
  • Nutritional Pediatrics

Background:

  • Preterm (PT) and full-term with low birth weight (FT-LBW) infants are recognized as high-risk populations for suboptimal growth outcomes.
  • Early identification and monitoring are crucial for addressing growth faltering in these vulnerable groups.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and compare the growth trajectories of preterm (PT) and full-term with low birth weight (FT-LBW) children from birth up to preschool ages.
  • To assess the long-term impact of being born small on growth outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of a large cohort of 1,150,508 infants from the National Health Screening Program for Infants and Children (NHSPIC).
  • Growth measurements (birth weight, Z-scores for height and BMI) were tracked across three screening rounds (4-6, 9-12, 18-24 months) and linked to outcomes at 2, 4, and 6 years.
  • Generalized estimating equations and Cox proportional-hazards regression were employed to analyze growth patterns and risks.

Main Results:

  • The full-term with low birth weight (FT-LBW) group exhibited the highest incidence of short stature and failure to thrive (FTT), followed by the preterm (PT) group.
  • At 4 years, short stature incidence was 6.0% in FT-LBW vs. 5.2% in PT, and FTT was 4.6% in FT-LBW vs. 3.9% in PT.
  • Height outcomes (β estimate) were significantly lower in both PT (-0.326 SDS) and FT-LBW (-0.456 SDS) groups compared to controls.

Conclusions:

  • The FT-LBW group demonstrated consistently shorter stature and lower weight throughout the preschool period compared to the PT group.
  • These findings underscore the critical importance of continuous growth monitoring for high-risk infant populations to ensure optimal development.
Abstract

Keywords:
failure to thrivegrowth curvelow birth weightnationwide studypretermshort stature

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