ESPE Abstracts (2022) 95 P2-165

ESPE2022 Poster Category 2 Growth and Syndromes (44 abstracts)

Postnatal growth in Preterm infants as a function of their weight for gestational age (GA) (WAZ) at birth: Comparison between those who were born underweight (WAZ <-2) compared to those with normal weight (WAZ > -2)

Fawzia Alyafei , Ashraf Soliman , Fatima Alkhori , Saleha Abbso , Doaa AlYousef , Mona Shaat , Maya Itani & Nada Alaaraj


Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar


Introduction: Small size at birth is only a proxy for the pathological process of intrauterine growth restriction.

Aim: To study the effect of different birth weights on postnatal growth.

Method: We studied the linear growth of 59 infants who were born preterm (GA = 33.5 +/- 2.2 weeks) with birth weight >1.5 < 2.5 kg) for two years. They were classified at birth into two groups (group 1 with WAZ <-2) (underweight) and (group 2 with WAZ > -2).

Results: Preterm infants with birth WAZ <-2 increased their WAZ at 6 months and 12 months from -2.8 to -1.5 and -1.1 respectively. After an initial decrease in LAZ during the first 6 months of life from -1.5 to -1.7 they had LAZ catch up at the next 18 months (from -1.5 to -0.2). Their WLZ increased markedly from -5 at birth to -0.6, - 0.84, and -0.47 at 6, 12, and 24 months respectively. Preterm infants with birth WAZ > -2 had decreased WAZ during the first 6 months from -0.48 to -1.35. This was followed by a gradual increase of WAZ at 12, 18, and 24 months (-0.48, -0.28, and -0.1 respectively. Their LAZ decreased significantly during the first 6 months (from 0 to -1.7). During the next 18 months, LAZ increased to -1.1, -0.9, and -0.5 at 12, 18, and 24 months. WLZ increased from -4 at birth to -0.5, -0.12, and 0.25 at 6, 12, and 18 months respectively. Despite the significantly decreased LAZ and WLZ scores in the group with WAZ < -2 at birth, at two years none of the growth parameters (WAZ, LAZ, and WLZ) differ significantly between the two groups.

birth 6 months
Gest age WTSD LSD WT/L WTSD LSD WT/L
WTSD <-2 Mean 36* (-2.83) * (-1.48) * -4.95 -1.49 -1.71 -0.56
N= 09 SD 2.50 0.38 0.51 2.61 0.91 1.08 1.63
WTSD >-2 Mean 33.14 -0.48 -0.04 -3.96 -1.35 -1.68 -0.42
N= 47 SD 1.68 0.96 1.26 1.14 1.28 1.17 1.41
  P-value 0.0079 <0.000001 <0.000001 0.323 0.703 0.949 0.846
12 months 8 months 24 months
WTSD LSD WT/L WTSD LSD WT/L WTSD LSD WT/L
-1.07 -0.84 -0.84 -0.95 -0.75 -1.20 -0.70 -0.16 -0.47
1.09 1.11 1.33 1.19 34.29 1.45 1.41 1.25 1.01
-0.48 -1.09 -0.12 -0.28 -0.91 0.25 -0.37 -0.51 -0.10
1.37 1.35 1.19 1.34 1.33 1.15 1.32 1.73 1.41
0.177 0.585 0.264 0.152 0.77 0.084 0.522 0.569 0.507

Volume 95

60th Annual ESPE (ESPE 2022)

Rome, Italy
15 Sep 2022 - 17 Sep 2022

European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology 

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