The Usefulness of Birth Weight Z-Score as a Predictor of Catch Up Growth in Preterm Infants. |
Huee Jin Park, Hae Yun Lee, Hae Kyung Woo, Seon Nyo Kim, Juyoung Lee, Hye Ran Yang, Beyong Il Kim, Chang Won Choi |
1Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea. choicw@snu.ac.kr 2Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, Seoul, Korea. 3Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. |
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Abstract |
PURPOSE The aim of the study was to examine whether the degree of fetal smallness in small for gestational age (SGA) infants would increase the risk of catch-up-growth failure at 12 and 24 months corrected age (CA), and whether the high-calorie nutritional support would improve catch-up growth between 12 and 24 months CA. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study on 103 preterm infants born between January 2010 and December 2011.
Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether the birth weight z-score would be an independent risk factor for catch-up growth failure at 12 or 24 months CA. Among the 46 infants with failed catch-up growth at 12 months CA, 16 infants were provided high-calorie nutritional support, including nutritional supplements and medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil at the pediatric gastroenterology clinic. RESULTS Of 103 preterm infants, 34 infants (33%) were SGA and 69 infants (67%) were appropriate for gestational age (AGA). One birth weight z-score decrement increased the odds for catch-up growth failure 2.9 times at 12 months CA and 3.0 times at 24 months CA after adjustment for major neonatal morbidities. The increase in z-score between 12 and 24 months CA was significantly greater in the infants provided nutritional support than in the infants who were not provided nutritional support. CONCLUSION The birth weight z-score can be used as a predictor of catch-up growth failure. High-calorie nutritional support may improve weight gain during the second year in preterm infants with failed catch-up growth at 12 months CA. |
Key Words:
Small for gestational age; Preterm; Catch up growth; Z-score; High calorie nutritional support |
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