ESPE Abstracts

Purpose: Small for gestational age(SGA)babies at increased risk of growth retardation. This is very important issues for them but lacks attention. So we hope this study deserves better guidance. The objectives of this paper is to illustrate the importance of this critical issues and to outline growth prognosis at the beginning of adolescence of female and male babies born small for gestational age(SGA) in comparision to controls born appropriate for gestational age(AGA). It is also a more detailed study of SGA infants in Korea.

Methods: This study is a case control descriptive study of children born small for gestational age in 2003-2006 at Daegu Medical Center, Daegu metropolitan city, Korea. The body weight, height, head circumference at birth have been retrieved from the medical records and the diagnosis of intra-uterine growth retardation(IUGR)have been made based on the growth curves published by Korean pediatric Association in 2017. The current height and weight are taken for the two groups and compared with each other using the 't test' for a better understanding of the prognosis of growth in children born SGA. Thirty cases and Thirty controls were recruited with neonatal infection and chromosomal abnormalities being the citeria of exclusion. The prevalence of children born SGA is 3 % in our study. Maternal risk factors including smoking and eclampsia, diabetes were noted in both groups.

Results: The majority of children with intrauterine growth retardation(IUGR) catch similar growth to that of their controls. No adverse consequences are observed in these children at the age of 11-12yrears. No correlation observed between IUGR and current weight and height of the children except for the current weight of the girls born SGA which is less compared to that of the controls. None of those children born SGA needed a GH treatment for the achievement of their optimal growth.

Conclusions: Children born SGA have similar dimensions in early adolescence compared to those born with a size appropriate for Gestational Age (AGA) except for the weight of the girls born SGA. The awareness of medical personnels and parents for early referral to treatment with GH therapy if necessary.