title: Factors affecting catch-up growth after liver transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The reported incidence of catch-up growth following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) ranges widely, from 0% to 97%.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We undertook bivariate analysis of multiple factors that might affect post-OLT growth in children undergoing OLT, and described the results with different parameters used to determine catch-up growth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty patients met the inclusion criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Catch-up growth occurred in 14% during the first 6 months, 15% at 1 year, 39% at 2 years, 16% between 3 and 6 years, and 16% after 6 years post-OLT. The earlier catch-up growth was shown in metabolic diagnosis, patients over 10 years old and those without steroids at 1 year post-OLT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is difficult to determine an acceptable definition of catch-up growth. We suggest that Zvel score > or =0 is the best parameter to evaluate catch-up growth, since the results are more normally distributed. Patients with prednisone withdrawal later than 1 year post-OLT and those with diagnosis of hepatitis and cirrhosis showed the slowest catch-up growth.
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplantation Group, Hospital Materno-Infantil Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús Alberto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: López-Espinosa
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yeste-Fernández
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iglesias-Berengue
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ortega-López
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Margarit-Creixell
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gussinyé-Canadell
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carrascosa-Lezcano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric