Department of Pediatrics, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, No. 1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600116, India.
Department of Pediatrics, Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences, Kulasekharam, Kanyakumari, India.
J Trop Pediatr. 2023 Oct 5;69(6). doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmad038.
Growth in the first year of life depends primarily on nutrition. Currently, the infant feeding practices of term babies are being extrapolated for preterms. While extrapolating, it is not clear if corrected age (CA) or chronological age should be used. In preterm infants, born ≤34 week gestation age, this difference may be more than 6 weeks. We studied the growth parameters and body composition of preterm infants born ≤34 week gestation age as compared to that of term infants at 12-13 months CA.
The growth of 99 term infants and 170 preterm infants born ≤34 weeks was evaluated at 12-13 months CA. The anthropometric measurements, body mass index (BMI) and skin fold thickness (SFT) at four sites (biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac) were compared in the two groups. The sum of the SFT was taken as a marker of fat mass.
At 12-13 months CA, preterm infants had significantly less weight, length and BMI as compared to term babies. The weight and BMI for age Z-scores, weight for length Z-scores and fat mass were also significantly less in preterm babies.
The anthropometry measures in preterms (<34 weeks) at 12-13 months CA were significantly lower than that of term infants. In our study population, preterms did not catch up in growth in the first year even when the CA is used for comparison. The causes could be multifactorial and need to be studied further.
婴儿期的生长主要取决于营养。目前，人们正在将足月婴儿的喂养方式外推至早产儿。在进行外推时，尚不清楚应该使用矫正年龄（CA）还是实际年龄。对于胎龄≤34 周的早产儿来说，两者的差异可能超过 6 周。我们研究了胎龄≤34 周的早产儿与足月儿在 12-13 个月 CA 时的生长参数和身体成分。
我们评估了 99 名足月儿和 170 名胎龄≤34 周的早产儿在 12-13 个月 CA 时的生长情况。比较了两组婴儿的体格测量值、体重指数（BMI）和四个部位（肱二头肌、肱三头肌、肩胛下和髂前上棘）的皮褶厚度（SFT）。SFT 的总和被用作脂肪量的标志物。
在 12-13 个月 CA 时，早产儿的体重、身长和 BMI 明显低于足月儿。早产儿的体重和 BMI 年龄 Z 评分、体重身长 Z 评分和脂肪量也明显较低。
在 12-13 个月 CA 时，<34 周的早产儿的体格测量值明显低于足月儿。在我们的研究人群中，即使使用 CA 进行比较，早产儿在第一年的生长也没有赶上。其原因可能是多因素的，需要进一步研究。
