title: Short children born prematurely: data from KIGS.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Advances in neonatal care have enabled the survival of extremely preterm infants. Some of them have growth failure and remain short at later ages. As a consequence, children born prematurely may be candidates for growth hormone (GH) treatment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this study was to obtain information about children on GH therapy enrolled in the Pfizer International Growth Database (KIGS) who were born prematurely.
  
  
  METHODS
  The KIGS database was queried for data on prepubertal short children (height <-2 standard deviation score; SDS) born with gestational age below 37 weeks. Birth weight had to be available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 3,215 patients were selected and classified according to gestational age and birth weight as preterm (<37 weeks' gestation), very preterm (VP; <33 weeks' gestation), appropriate for gestational age (AGA; birth weight between -2 and +2 SDS) or small for gestational age (SGA; birth weight <-2 SDS). Of these, 1,928 children were preterm AGA, 629 very preterm AGA, 519 preterm SGA, and 139 very preterm SGA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  KIGS is a cumulative database and provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the growth response to GH therapy of premature children born with differences in gestational ages, size at birth, rate of postnatal growth, and GH secretion status.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Endocrinology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil. margabogus@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Margaret C S
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Boguszewski
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilton
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D019382:Human Growth Hormone