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a Departments of Pediatrics
b Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
c Department of Woman and Child, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
BACKGROUND. It is unknown whether children born very preterm (<32 weeks' gestation) with appropriate size for gestational age, who grow poorly in the first postnatal months (ie, preterm growth restraint), show a similar growth pattern as children born small for gestational age.
OBJECTIVE. Childhood growth and adult height of children with preterm growth restraint were compared to those of very preterm small-for-gestational-age and nonpreterm-growth-restraint children.
METHODS. Data were drawn from the Project on Preterm and Small-for-Gestational-Age Infants cohort. Preterm growth restraint was considered to have occurred after appropriate-size-for-gestational-age birth and if length and/or weight was below 2 SD score at 3 months postterm.
RESULTS. Among 380 very preterm children, 274 experienced no preterm growth restraint and showed near-normal growth, whereas 79 (21%) experienced preterm growth restraint and subsequently displayed a growth pattern similar to that of very preterm small-for-gestational-age children (n = 27). Adult height of these children was 1.1 to 1.2 SD score. Very preterm small-for-gestational-age and preterm-growth-restraint children with a height below 2 SD score at 5 years had an adult height of approximately 2.5 SD score.
CONCLUSIONS. Childhood growth and adult height were similar in very preterm small-for-gestational-age and preterm-growth-restraint children. These long-term findings further strengthen the plausibility of extending the small-for-gestational-age indication for growth hormone therapy in such a way that preterm-growth-restraint children are no longer excluded if they have a short stature persisting beyond the age of
5 years.
Key Words: follow-up studies prospective study neonatal morbidity premature infants growth patterns
Abbreviations: PGRpreterm growth restraint AGAappropriate size for gestational age SGA small for gestational age SDSSD score GHgrowth hormone
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