title: Early spontaneous catch-up growth.
abstract: We explored factors related to early catch-up growth in healthy children in Göteborg, Sweden. Most (82.9%) infants born small for gestational age (SGA) showed catch-up growth during their first 6 months, and 94.3% reached a final height within the normal range. At 6 months, 21 SGA children remained short and 45 non-SGA babies fell below the -2 SDS cutoff in height. Of these 66 short infants, 10 (15.2%) remained short into adulthood and 56 showed spontaneous catch-up growth. Fetal growth should be defined by body size at 6 months of age rather than at birth because most SGA infants catch up before 6 months, and furthermore, fetal growth regulatory mechanisms, such as insulin-like growth factor-I and -II, are the primary growth-promoting factors until 6 months of age.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trials Centre, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong SAR, PR China. jpekarl@hkucc.hku.hk
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karlberg
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Albertsson-Wikland
authors.forename: Chi Wai
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: Flora Y S
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I