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Racial and ethnic disparities in postnatal growth of infants born before 30 weeks of gestation

Fu-Sheng Chou1, Hung-Wen Yeh2, Crystal Hsueh3

  • 1Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center.

Research Square
|September 15, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Racial and ethnic disparities affect premature infant growth. Black infants regained birth weight fastest, while Hispanic infants showed the slowest growth velocity, highlighting varied outcomes in preterm infants.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatalogy
  • Pediatric Growth and Development
  • Health Disparities Research

Background:

  • Premature infants born before 30 weeks gestation experience complex growth patterns.
  • Understanding racial and ethnic variations in their postnatal development is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate racial and ethnic disparities in birth weight (BW), time to BW regain, and mean growth velocity.
  • To analyze these disparities in infants born between 23 and 29 weeks' gestation.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of a de-identified dataset (2010-2020) from 76,145 infants.
  • Infants categorized into Asian, Hispanic, Black, White, and Other groups.
  • Inverse propensity weighting used to balance antenatal confounders.

Main Results:

  • Black infants had the lowest BW z-scores, while Hispanic infants had higher BW z-scores compared to White infants.
  • Black infants achieved the quickest birth weight regain.
  • Hispanic infants exhibited the lowest mean growth velocity during the accelerated growth phase.

Conclusions:

  • Significant racial and ethnic disparities exist in the postnatal growth of preterm infants.
  • These disparities manifest differently across various growth phases, necessitating tailored approaches.
Abstract

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