title: Postnatal weight gain in very low birth weight infants in Beijing and the risk of retinopathy of prematurity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the low weight gain (WG) from birth to 4 and 6wk of life to predict the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) among very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm babies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and three newborns with VLBW were analyzed. Body weight measurements were recorded weekly. In all patients, the proportion of the WG was defined as the preterm weight measured at the 4(th) and 6(th) weeks of life minus the birth weight (BW) divided by the BW. Other risk factors for ROP were also analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean gestational age and mean BW of the whole cohort were 29.56±1.44wk and 1270.58±176.18g respectively. WG proportion at 4wk postnatal age (18.89%±13.58%) were significantly lower in infants with ROP (P=0.003). WG proportion at 6wk was not different between ROP and no ROP group (42.48%±20.36% vs 46.43%±15.65% P=0.118). When all the other risk factors signiﬁcant for ROP were included in the logistic regression poor WG did not arise as an independent risk factor. Area under the ROC curve was 0.591 (95%CI: 0.515-0.666; P=0.016). For ROP, the best discriminative cutoff of 18.06% of the proportional WG at the 4(th) week over the BW, sensitivity and specificity values were 67.3% and 50.0% respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low WG proportion in the first 4wk of life is maybe an additional predictor of ROP in very low BW infants. Preterm babies with low BW and low WG proportion should be followed closely for ROP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Beijing General Hospital of the Chinese PLA, Beijing 100700, China.
authors.forename: Zong-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Fuzhou General Hospital of the Chinese PLA, Fuzhou 350025, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Peng-Fen
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Beijing General Hospital of the Chinese PLA, Beijing 100700, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Beijing General Hospital of the Chinese PLA, Beijing 100700, China.
authors.forename: Yao-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: retinopathy of prematurity; risk factors; weight gain; weight gain proportion