title: A study on catch up growth among low birth weight infants in an urban slum of Kolkata.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the catch up growth among low birth weight infants in relation to the normal birth weight counterparts in first six months of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  A longitudinal community based study was done in 2004 -05 in an urban slum of Chetla, Kolkata among 126 singleton live born babies. Growth pattern of these babies was followed up at 15+/-5 days interval by house visit till six months of age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incidence of low birth weight babies was 28.6%. 86.1% LBW infants caught up in length at 3rd month, 63.9% in chest circumference at 4th month, 66.7% in head circumference at 5th month, while 72.2% in weight at 6th month. Regular growth monitoring is essential for LBW babies to detect signs of growth faltering at the earliest.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, India. dr_bobbypaul@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dasgupta
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
mesh_terms: D002508:Cephalometry; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000254:growth & development*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011204:Poverty Areas; D015430:Weight Gain