ESPE2022 Poster Category 1 Growth and Syndromes (85 abstracts)
Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar
Introduction: This study evaluated the postnatal growth of infants born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) < 1 kg for 3 years.
Method: Anthropometric measures (z scores) from birth, 2,4.6,12,18,24, and 36 months were measured in 87 randomly selected infants who were born with a birth weight below 1 kg (9-2016: 9-2018). Their growth data were compared to standard growth for normal age and sex using WHO growth standards without correction for gestational age. All ELBW received preterm formula for an average of 4-6 months.
Results: Their gestational age (GA) at delivery ranged between 23 and 27.5 weeks. They had weight z score (mean +/- SE) (WAZ) = -7.7 +/-0.14, length Z score (LAZ) = -8.8 +/-0.25 and Weight for length Z score (WLZ) =-5.6 +/-0.39 and head circumference z score (HCZ) = -8.8 +/-0.3. At birth, 97% of infants had WAZ < -2, 96% had LAZ < -2 and 98.5 % had WLZ <-2. By the age of 18 months, 18.7 % had LAZ < -2, 16.7% had WAZ <-2 and 6% had WLZ <-2. By the age of 3 years 10 % had LAZ < -2, 19 % had WAZ <-2 and 7.4 % had WLZ <-2. At 3 years of age, 14.8 % of infants had WLZ > 1 < 2 and 7.4% WLZ >2. At birth 98.5 % of infants had HCZ <-2 and at 3 years of age only 8.5% had HCZ <-2 denoting very good brain growth.
% at birth | % at 18 mon | % at 24 mon | % at 36 mon | |
WAZ <-2 | 97% | 16.67% | 14.00% | 22.00% |
WAZ <-1 | 100% | 35.00% | 34.00% | 40.00% |
WAZ >2 | 0 | 5.00% | 14.00% | 2.00% |
WAZ >1 | 0 | 11.67% | 38.00% | 12.00% |
LAZ < -2 | 96% | 18.75% | 14.00% | 10.00% |
LAZ <-1 | 98.5% | 53.13% | 38.00% | 20.00% |
WLZ <-2 | 98.5% | 6.00% | 17.14% | 19.00% |
WLZ < -1 | 100% | 24.00% | 28.57% | 29.00% |
WLZ >2 | 0 | 5.00% | 5.71% | 7.41% |
WLZ >1 | 0 | 16.67% | 14.29% | 14.81% |
HCZ <-2 | 98.5% | 18.00% | 8.5% | ND |
HCZ <-1 | 100% | 56.00% | 31.43% | ND |
Conclusion: Infants born ELBW who were fed preterm formula had progressive improvement of growth parameters including WAZ, LAZ, WLZ, and HCZ. By the age of 3 years, 78% had normal WAZ, 90% had normal LAZ, 87% had normal WLZ, and 91.5% had normal HCZ. Overweight was detected in 7.4% of them at 3 years.