Catch-up growth during childhood among very low-birth-weight children.
OBJECTIVE
To examine growth attainment and correlates of catch-up growth at 8 years of age in a cohort of very low-birth-weight (VLBW) children (< 1500 g), including appropriate and small-for-gestational-age children, and to compare their growth with normal-birth-weight (NBW) children.


METHODS
Eight-year longitudinal follow-up of a cohort of VLBW children. A geographically based, randomly selected sample of NBW children was recruited at 8 years of age.


METHODS
Tertiary perinatal center.


METHODS
Two hundred forty-nine VLBW children born between January 1, 1977, and December 31, 1979 (78% of survivors), of whom 199 were born appropriate for gestational age and 50 were small for gestational age (< -2 SD). The NBW population included 363 children.


METHODS
For the VLBW population, rates of subnormal weight (below the third percentile) and height were obtained at birth, at 40 weeks (term), and at 8 and 20 months. For the VLBW and NBW populations, mean weight, height, and percentile distribution at 8 years were derived from the National Center for Health Statistics standards.


RESULTS
Catch-up growth to above the third percentile occurred between 40 weeks and 8 months, 8 and 20 months, and up to 8 years of age among the VLBW children. At 40 weeks, 54% were subnormal in weight and 60% were subnormal in height; at 8 months, 33% and 22%, respectively, and at 8 years, 8% were subnormal in weight and height. Small-for-gestational-age children had lower rates of catch-up growth. Multivariate analyses disclosed maternal height, race, birth weight, and neurologic abnormality to predict percentile distribution of height; and maternal height, small for gestational age, and neurologic abnormality to predict subnormal height.


CONCLUSIONS
Catch-up growth occurs during childhood among VLBW children. These results have implications when counseling parents about the potential growth attainment of their children.
Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
M
M
Hack
B
B
Weissman
E
E
Borawski-Clark
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000502:physiology; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D013997:Time Factors