Postnatal Growth Faltering: Growth and Height Improvement at Two Years in Children with Very Low Birth Weight between 2002-2017

The prevalence of postnatal growth faltering (PGF) in preterm infants with very low birth weight (VLBW) (<1500 g) is a universal problem. Growth improvement is expected as neonatal care is optimized. Objectives: To determine if there has been a decrease in the prevalence of PGF and an improvement in height at 2 years in appropriate for gestational age VLBW children in the last two decades. Methods: Clinical descriptive retrospective analysis of neonatal somatometry at birth and at two-year corrected age in VLBW preterm infants. Small for gestational age were excluded. Two cohorts (2002-2006, n = 112; and 2013-2017, n = 92) were compared. Results. In the second five-year period, a decrease in prevalence of PGF was observed (36.6% vs. 22.8%, p = 0.033), an increase in growth rate in the first 28 days (5.22 (4.35-6.09) g/kg/day vs. 11.38 (10.61-12.15) g/kg/day, p < 0.0001) and an increase in height standard deviation (SD) at 2 years (-1.12 (-1.35--0.91) vs. -0.74 (-0.99--0.49) p = 0.023). Probability of short stature at 2 years was directly related to daily weight gain in the first 28 days. Conclusions: when comparing two five-year periods in the last two decades, growth in VLBW preterm infants has improved, both during neonatal period and at two years of age.

Automated summary

In the last two decades, there has been a decrease in the prevalence of postnatal growth faltering in preterm infants with very low birth weight. There has also been an increase in growth rate during the neonatal period and improvements in height at 2 years of age.