Poor Head Growth Is Associated with Later Mental Delay among Vietnamese Preterm Infants: A Follow-up Study

Abstract Background Preterm infants in low- and middle-income countries are at high risk of poor physical growth, but their growth data are still scarce. Objectives To describe the growth of Vietnamese preterm infants in the first 2 years, and to compare with references: World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards, and healthy Southeast Asian (SEA) infants. Further, to assess the association between growth in the first year and neurodevelopment at 2 years corrected age (CA). Methods We conducted a cohort study to follow up preterm infants discharged from a neonatal intensive care unit for 2 years. Weight, length and head circumference (HC) were measured at 3, 12 and 24 months CA. Neurodevelopment was assessed using Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development—3rd Edition at 24 months CA. Results Over 90% of the cohort showed catch-up weight at 3 months CA. Weight and length were comparable to healthy SEA but were lower than WHO standards. HC was significantly smaller than those of WHO standards with HC Z-scores steadily decreasing from −0.95 at 3 months CA to −1.50 at 24 months CA. Each one decrement of HC Z-score from 3 to 12 months CA was associated with nearly twice an increase in odds of mental delay at 24 months CA (odds ratio 1.89; 95% confidence interval 1.02–3.50). Conclusion Vietnamese preterm infants exhibited early catch-up weight but poor head growth, which was associated with later delays in mental development. Our findings support the importance of HC measures in follow-up for preterm infants.

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Growth Assessment in Preterm Children from Birth to Preschool Age

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu12071941 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 1941

Author(s):

Simone Ceratto ◽

Francesco Savino ◽

Silvia Vannelli ◽

Luisa De Sanctis ◽

Francesca Giuliani

Keyword(s):

Preterm Infant ◽

Preterm Infants ◽

Gestational Age ◽

Postnatal Growth ◽

Child Growth ◽

Preschool Age ◽

World Health ◽

Growth Standards ◽

Size At Birth

Preterm infant growth is a major health indicator and needs to be monitored with an appropriate growth curve to achieve the best developmental and growth potential while avoiding excessive caloric intake that is linked to metabolic syndrome and hypertension later in life. New international standards for size at birth and postnatal growth for preterm infants are available and need implementation in clinical practice. A prospective, single center observational study was conducted to evaluate the in-hospital and long-term growth of 80 preterm infants with a mean gestational age of 33.3 ± 2.2 weeks, 57% males. Size at birth and at discharge were assessed using the INTERGROWTH-21ST standards, at preschool age with World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards. The employment of INTERGROWTH-21ST Preterm Postnatal longitudinal standards during the in-hospital follow-up significantly reduced the diagnosis of short term extrauterine growth restriction when compared to commonly used cross sectional neonatal charts, with significant lower loss of percentiles between birth and term corrected age (p < 0.0001). The implementation of a package of standards at birth, preterm postnatal growth standards and WHO child growth standards proved to be consistent, with correlation between centile at birth and at follow-up, and therefore effective in monitoring growth in a moderate and late preterm infant cohort without chronic or major morbidities. Infants identified as small for gestational age at birth showed significantly more frequently a need for auxological referral.

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Physical growth of Jamaican school children who were severely malnourished before 2 years of age

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s0021932000010312 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 445-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Stephen A. Richardson

Keyword(s):

School Children ◽

Head Circumference ◽

Age Groups ◽

Physical Growth ◽

Severe Malnutrition ◽

Growth Standards ◽

Catch Up ◽

Index Cases

SummaryA study is reported of physical growth of Jamaican schoolboys who had been admitted to hospital with severe malnutrition during infancy (index cases). Height, weight and head circumference of the index cases was compared with that of male siblings close in age (siblings), with unrelated classmates or neighbours matched for sex and age (comparisons) and with Jamaican or US growth standards. Index boys were significantly smaller in height and head circumference than comparisons and significantly smaller than sibs only in head circumference. Sibs were intermediate in stature to the index and comparison boys. When the boys were divided into three age groups there was evidence of complete catch-up in height and weight after 7 years of age, but catch-up was incomplete for head circumference in the oldest group. No significant differences in stature at follow-up of the index boys were found in relation to age when admitted to hospital.

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Comparison of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards and the National Center for Health Statistics/WHO international growth reference: implications for child health programmes

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/phn20062005 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. 942-947 ◽

Cited By ~ 281

Author(s):

Mercedes de Onis ◽

Adelheid W Onyango ◽

Elaine Borghi ◽

Cutberto Garza ◽

Hong Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Child Health ◽

Child Growth ◽

Growth Patterns ◽

World Health ◽

Growth Standards ◽

International Growth ◽

Growth Reference ◽

Who Standards ◽

Health Organization ◽

Health Programmes

AbstractObjectivesTo compare growth patterns and estimates of malnutrition based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards (‘the WHO standards’) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)/WHO international growth reference (‘the NCHS reference’), and discuss implications for child health programmes.DesignSecondary analysis of longitudinal data to compare growth patterns (birth to 12 months) and data from two cross-sectional surveys to compare estimates of malnutrition among under-fives.SettingsBangladesh, Dominican Republic and a pooled sample of infants from North America and Northern Europe.SubjectsRespectively 4787, 10 381 and 226 infants and children.ResultsHealthy breast-fed infants tracked along the WHO standard's weight-for-age mean Z-score while appearing to falter on the NCHS reference from 2 months onwards. Underweight rates increased during the first six months and thereafter decreased when based on the WHO standards. For all age groups stunting rates were higher according to the WHO standards. Wasting and severe wasting were substantially higher during the first half of infancy. Thereafter, the prevalence of severe wasting continued to be 1.5 to 2.5 times that of the NCHS reference. The increase in overweight rates based on the WHO standards varied by age group, with an overall relative increase of 34%.ConclusionsThe WHO standards provide a better tool to monitor the rapid and changing rate of growth in early infancy. Their adoption will have important implications for child health with respect to the assessment of lactation performance and the adequacy of infant feeding. Population estimates of malnutrition will vary by age, growth indicator and the nutritional status of index populations.

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Postnatal growth of preterm infants during the first two years of life: catch-up growth accompanied by risk of overweight

Italian Journal of Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s13052-021-01019-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 47 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Junyan Han ◽

Yuan Jiang ◽

Jun Huang ◽

Yue Zhang ◽

Ying Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Preterm Infants ◽

Gestational Age ◽

Growth Trajectory ◽

World Health ◽

Z Score ◽

Chinese Community ◽

Community Population ◽

Who Standards ◽

Catch Up

Abstract Background Early postanal growth of preterm infants has many effects on early and late health. However, evidence on growth pattern in Chinese preterm infant population during early life is insufficient. This study aims to describe the growth trajectory, catch-up growth, and risk of overweight of preterm infants during the first 2 years of life in a Chinese community population. Methods All preterm infants (n = 10,624) received routine childcare in one primary maternal and child healthcare network in 8 years were included. Body weight and length/height at corrected age (CA) 40 weeks, CA 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months were extracted and converted to z-scores based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. According to the intrauterine growth status, infants were divided into small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and large for gestational age (LGA) infants. Changes of z-score were used to describe the growth velocity. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) model was used to analyze growth trajectory trends over time. Results Body weight and length/height were overall above the WHO standards during the first 2 years of life. Z-score increased significantly by 0.08 (95% CI: 0.06–0.10) in weight and 0.07 (95% CI: 0.04–0.09) in length/height from CA 40 weeks to 3 months and then levelled off until CA 24 months after adjustment. Almost 90% of AGA and LGA infants achieved growth targets (≥25th percentile of WHO standards), and over 85% of SGA infants achieved catch-up growth (≥10th percentile of WHO standards) before CA 24 months. However, the risk of overweight appeared during this period, with the proportion of infants with the risk of overweight being at the peak at CA 3 months (25.6% of all preterm infants and 39.4% of LGA infants). Growth trajectories of SGA showed increasing trends, but those of LGA showed decreasing trends during the first 2 years. Conclusions Body weight and length/height of preterm infants are above the WHO standards in the Chinese community population during the first 2 years of life. Catch-up growth is accompanied by risk of overweight as early as CA 3 months. (349 words)

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WHO 2006 Child Growth Standards overestimate short stature and underestimate overweight in Japanese children

Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism ◽

10.1515/jpem-2017-0303 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 33-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Mikako Inokuchi ◽

Nobutake Matsuo ◽

John I. Takayama ◽

Tomonobu Hasegawa

Keyword(s):

Short Stature ◽

Care Center ◽

Standard Deviation Score ◽

Child Growth ◽

World Health ◽

Japanese Children ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Growth Standards ◽

Who Standards

AbstractBackground:It is unclear whether the World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 Child Growth Standards are applicable to East Asian populations. We investigated the applicability of the WHO standards of length/height and weight to a cohort representing middle-class children in Japan.Methods:A cohort of children aged 0–5 years (3430 boys, 3025 girls) in the Tokyo Child Care Center Survey consecutively recruited from 2007 to 2013 were studied. Age- and sex-specific z-scores of length/height, weight and weight for length/height were calculated relative to either the WHO standards or the Japanese 2000 Growth References (nationally representative cross sectional survey data).Results:Compared with the WHO standards, Japanese children at birth, 1, 3, 5 years were shorter (length/height standard deviation score [SDS] −0.26, −0.82, −0.81, −0.63 for boys, and −0.15, −0.67, −0.84, −0.62 for girls, respectively) and lighter (weight SDS −0.62, −0.36, −0.34, −0.42 for boys and −0.60, −0.17, −0.29, −0.43 for girls, respectively). Weight for length/height showed smaller differences at various length/height points (SDS −0.05 to 0.15 for boys, 0.01 to 0.29 for girls, respectively).Conclusions:Adoption of the WHO standards would substantially alter the prevalence of short stature, underweight and overweight in Japanese children 0–5 years of age. These findings advocate the use of the national references in Japan.

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Postnatal Growth of Preterm Infants During The First Two Years of Life: Catch-Up Growth Accompanied by Risk of Overweight

10.21203/rs.3.rs-41373/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Junyan Han ◽

Yuan Jiang ◽

Jun Huang ◽

Yue Zhang ◽

Ying Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Preterm Infants ◽

Gestational Age ◽

Growth Trajectory ◽

World Health ◽

Z Score ◽

Chinese Community ◽

Community Population ◽

Who Standards ◽

Catch Up

Abstract Background: Early postanal growth of preterm infants has many effects on early and late health. However, evidence on growth pattern in Chinese preterm infant population during early life is insufficient. This study aims to describe the growth trajectory, catch-up growth, and risk of overweight of preterm infants during the first two years of life in a Chinese community population. Methods: All preterm infants (n=10624) received routine childcare in one primary maternal and child healthcare network in eight years were included. Body weight and length/height at corrected age (CA) 40 weeks, CA 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months were extracted and converted to z-scores based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. According to the intrauterine growth status, infants were divided into small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and large for gestational age (LGA) infants. Changes of z-score were used to describe the growth velocity. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) model was used to analyze growth trajectory trends over time. Results: Body weight and length/height were overall above the WHO standards during the first two years of life. Z-score increased significantly by 0.08 (95%CI: 0.06-0.10) in weight and 0.07 (95%CI: 0.04-0.09) in length/height from CA 40 weeks to 3 months, and then levels off until CA 24 months after adjustment. Over 90% AGA/LGA preterm infants achieved catch-up growth before CA 24 months, with the majority did before CA 3 months. It took more time for SGA infants to achieve catch-up growth than AGA/LGA infants. However, risk of overweight appeared along with catch-up growth, the proportion of infants with risk of overweight being at the peak (25.6% of all preterm infants and 39.4% of LGA infants) at CA 3 months. Growth trajectories of SGA showed declining trends, but those of LGA showed increasing trends during the first two years.Conclusions: Body weight and length/height of preterm infants are above the WHO standards in the Chinese community population during the first two years of life. Catch-up growth is accompanied by the risk of overweight as early as CA 3 months.

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Cross-sectional study of child and adolescent growth in Ecuador

Revista Argentina de Antropología Biológica ◽

10.24215/18536387e006 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 006

Author(s):

Wilmer Alexander Tarupi ◽

Yvan Lepage ◽

Roland Hauspie ◽

María Luisa Félix ◽

Claude Monnier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth Curves ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Child Growth ◽

World Health ◽

Growth Monitoring ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Important Indicator ◽

Growth Standards ◽

Who Standards ◽

Health Organization

Child growth is internationally recognized as an important indicator for monitoring health in populations. There exists a wide controversy regarding the use of international growth standards versus local references. This study seeks to construct reference growth curves for school-age Ecuadorian children and adolescents, and to compare them with World Health Organization (WHO) standards, in order to identify the differences and their public health implications. The study authors enrolled 2891 children (1644 girls and 1247 boys) aged 5 to 18 years, from a variety of climatic zones and ethnic groups. LMS method was used to construct Ecuadorian curves for height, weight and Body Mass Index. Comparisons of Ecuadorian and WHO curves were graphically illustrated. U.S children were taller than Ecuadorian children across all age ranges, with larger differences between the two populations in children over 13 years. Consequently, estimates of low height and extremely low height, as well as overweight, obese and undernourished, were significantly different between WHO standards and the Ecuadorian references. Population-specific growth curves may be more adequate for growth monitoring of Ecuadorian children than WHO growth curves. We advocate for the construction of an Ecuadorian growth reference for clinical use based on national population, from conception to maturity, as an accurate instrument for monitoring growth.

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Postnatal growth of preterm infants during the first two years of life: catch-up growth accompanied by risk of overweight

10.21203/rs.3.rs-41373/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Junyan Han ◽

Yuan Jiang ◽

Jun Huang ◽

Yue Zhang ◽

Ying Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Preterm Infants ◽

Gestational Age ◽

Growth Trajectory ◽

World Health ◽

Z Score ◽

Chinese Community ◽

Community Population ◽

Who Standards ◽

Catch Up

Abstract Background: Early postanal growth of preterm infants has many effects on early and late health. However, evidence on growth pattern in Chinese preterm infant population during early life is insufficient. This study aims to describe the growth trajectory, catch-up growth, and risk of overweight of preterm infants during the first two years of life in a Chinese community population. Methods: All preterm infants (n=10624) received routine childcare in one primary maternal and child healthcare network in eight years were included. Body weight and length/height at corrected age (CA) 40 weeks, CA 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months were extracted and converted to z-scores based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. According to the intrauterine growth status, infants were divided into small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and large for gestational age (LGA) infants. Changes of z-score were used to describe the growth velocity. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) model was used to analyze growth trajectory trends over time. Results: Body weight and length/height were overall above the WHO standards during the first two years of life. Z-score increased significantly by 0.08 (95% CI: 0.06-0.10) in weight and 0.07 (95% CI: 0.04-0.09) in length/height from CA 40 weeks to 3 months and then levelled off until CA 24 months after adjustment. Almost 90% of AGA and LGA infants achieved growth targets (≥25th percentile of WHO standards), and over 85% of SGA infants achieved catch-up growth (≥10th percentile of WHO standards) before CA 24 months. However, the risk of overweight appeared during this period, with the proportion of infants with the risk of overweight being at the peak at CA 3 months (25.6% of all preterm infants and 39.4% of LGA infants). Growth trajectories of SGA showed increasing trends, but those of LGA showed decreasing trends during the first two years.Conclusions: Body weight and length/height of preterm infants are above the WHO standards in the Chinese community population during the first two years of life. Catch-up growth is accompanied by risk of overweight as early as CA 3 months.

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Maternal Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Relation to Child Malnutrition in Gauteng, South Africa: A Retrospective Analysis

Children ◽

10.3390/children8020133 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 133

Author(s):

Perpetua Modjadji ◽

Mpinane Pitso

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Tobacco Use ◽

Child Growth ◽

Growth Patterns ◽

World Health ◽

Poor Growth ◽

Growth Standards ◽

Validated Questionnaire ◽

Current Tobacco

Tobacco and alcohol use among mothers is associated with numerous adverse consequences for affected offspring, including poor growth and development. This study determined the association between maternal tobacco and alcohol use, and malnutrition, among infants aged ≤ 12 months (n = 300), in selected health facilities situated in Gauteng, South Africa. Data on alcohol and tobacco use were collected using a validated questionnaire, in addition to mothers’ socio-demographic characteristics and obstetric history. Stunting (low height/length-for-age), underweight (low weight-for-age) and thinness (low body mass index-for-age) were calculated using z-scores based on the World Health Organization child growth standards. The association of tobacco and alcohol use with stunting, underweight and thinness was analysed using logistic regression analysis. The results showed a mean age of 29 years (24.0; 35.0) for mothers and 7.6 ± 3 months for infants, and over half of the mothers were unemployed (63%). Approximately 18.7% of mothers had used tobacco and 3% had used alcohol during pregnancy. The prevalence of current tobacco and alcohol use among mothers were estimated at 14.3% and 49.7%, respectively, and almost three-quarters (67.3%) of them were still breastfeeding during the study period. Stunting (55%) was the most prevalent malnutrition indicator among infants, while underweight was 41.7%, and thinness was 22%. Current tobacco use was associated with increased odds of being thin [OR = 2.40, 95% CI: 1.09–5.45), and after adjusting for confounders, current alcohol use was associated with the likelihood of being underweight [AOR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.06–3.63] among infants. Future prospective cohort studies that examine growth patterns among infants who are exposed to maternal tobacco and alcohol use from the intrauterine life to infancy are necessary to inform, partly, the public health programmes, to reduce malnutrition among children.

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