title: Variability of abdominal circumference of premature infants.
abstract: Serial measurements of abdominal circumference were made in 27 premature infants 1 hour before feeding, immediately before and after feeding, and 1 and 2 hours after feeding. In some infants these measurements were repeated for 2 (n = 18) or 3 (n = 3) consecutive days. All 258 measurements were performed by the same examiner; 124 were also repeated blindly by another examiner to test interobserver reliability. The coefficient of variation of repeated measurements of any one infant by the same examiner on a single day was 2.7%. Ninety percent of repeated measurements agreed within 1.5 cm. The interobserver reliability was 0.99. Abdominal circumference was positively correlated with birth weight (P = .0001) and time from last defecation (P = .0001) and negatively correlated with time from last feeding (P = .04). Increases in abdominal circumference of less than 1.5 cm occur normally and, in the absence of other clinical signs, should not be considered indicative of disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001724:Birth Weight; D001824:Body Constitution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis