Body weight, length and head circumference at birth in a cohort of Turkish newborns.
OBJECTIVE
Intrauterine growth references are primarily useful indicators in the assessment of the general health status of newborn infants. Although Lubchenco's references are still used in many neonatal care units, we believe that there is a need for up-to-date intrauterine growth references specific for different populations. To develop gestational age-and gender-specific national references for birth weight, birth length and head circumference.


METHODS
Data were collected from neonatal records of perinatology services of eleven hospitals from January to December 2009. The anthropometry of a total of 4750 singleton live births born between 28 and 41 weeks of gestation were recorded. Means and standard deviations were calculated, and percentiles for each gender and gestational week were produced using the LMS program. The results were compared with US infants and also with local data.


RESULTS
Gestational age- and gender-specific 3rd, 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th, 90th, 95th and 97th percentile values were produced. Comparison of the 10th, 50th and 90th percentile values showed that the boys were heavier and longer than the girls. Head circumference values were also higher in the boys. Proportions of small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) infants in the sample were 10.1%, 79.1% and 10.8%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
These gender- and gestational age-specific references will be of use in clinical practice and also for research purposes until more comprehensive, reliable and accessible national data pertaining to the intrauterine growth of Turkish infants are produced.
Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Kayseri, Turkey.
Selim
S
Kurtoğlu
Nihal
N
Hatipoğlu
Mustafa Mümtaz
MM
Mazıcıoğlu
Mustafa Ali
MA
Akın
Dilek
D
Çoban
Sonay
S
Gökoğlu
Osman
O
Baştuğ
D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D049628:Body Size; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D005320:Fetal Macrosomia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D057238:Growth Charts; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D008297:Male; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology