title: Growth charts for monitoring postnatal growth at NICU of extreme preterm-born infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide growth charts for clinical monitoring of extra-uterine growth from birth to full-term age, in infants born before 26 weeks of gestation, hospitalized at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and compare it to the commonly used Swedish preterm birth-size reference.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective longitudinal cohort comprised all infants born before 26 + 0 weeks of gestation and surviving to full-term age (n = 162), admitted to the NICU, Karolinska Hospital during the period January 1990 to December 2002. Body weight was recorded daily, head circumference (HC) weekly and length twice a month.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Birth weight (BW), length and HC showed a normal distribution without significant gender difference. The majority of the infants showed a pronounced postnatal growth restriction for all growth variables with increasing deviation from the reference with age. The mean initial weight loss was 16% with nadir at 6 days of age and a mean time to regain BW of 18 days. At discharge from NICU, 75% of those initially appropriate for gestational age infants were below -2 standard deviation scores for at least one of the body size variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The poor extra-uterine growth pattern points to the need of growth curves for extra-uterine growth of extremely premature infants.
authors: Department for Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institute, Paediatric Endocrinology Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. eva.horemuzova@ki.se
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Horemuzova
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Söder
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Hagenäs
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D057238:Growth Charts; D006257:Head / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013548:Sweden