The body proportions for small-for-dates infants.

Measurements of weight, head circumference, crown-heel length, crown-rump length, rump-heel length and limb lengths were made in 514 neonates. From these measurements the differences in trunk and limb growth and their relations with head growth and body weight were examined in small-for-gestation (SGA) and appropriate grown (AGA) infants, and in different ethnic groups. We found that Asian infants had different body proportions from blacks and whites, with shorter trunks and forearms. SGA infants as a whole showed little difference in proportions from AGA infants except in their ponderal indices and the ratio of head size to body weight. However there was a preponderance of thin, relatively well-grown infants among them. When very short SGA infants were compared with AGA infants significant differences emerged, the short infants of all ethnic groups having shorter trunks and forearms in relation to their other measurements. We found no evidence of relative sparing of head growth. The results suggest that infants with prolonged intrauterine growth retardation are most likely to have disturbed skeletal proportions.