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Growth Standards (growth + standards)
Selected AbstractsIntrauterine growth standards in a developing country: a study of singleton livebirths at 28,42 weeks' gestationPAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Khalid A. Yunis Summary This study aimed to develop fetal growth charts for the population of Greater Beirut, Lebanon, and compare them with previously established references. A survey of consecutive singleton livebirths admitted to normal nurseries and neonatal intensive care units of major hospitals, through the database project of the National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network was used as a design. The study was conducted in nine major healthcare institutions serving the population of Beirut and its suburbs. A total of 24 767 singleton livebirths delivered between 28 and 42 weeks' gestation, with known data on gender, gestational age and anthropometric characteristics were recorded between 1 April 1999 and 31 March 2002. Growth charts were developed by plotting birthweight, length and head circumference percentiles against gestational age for male and female infants separately. Overall, 1348 (5.4%) pregnancies were delivered before 37 weeks' gestation and 1227 (4.9%) were low birthweight. Male infants were delivered slightly earlier than their female counterparts and the mean birthweight, length and head circumference were consistently higher in males. A total of 2247 (9.1%) infants were small-for-gestational-age, with a male-to-female sex ratio of 1.03. Using previously established growth references that overestimated small-for-gestational-age prevalence resulted in a greater proportion of false positives. The opposite was true for growth references that underestimated small-for-gestational-age prevalence. The current growth charts present useful tools for assessing the general health status of newborn infants delivered at sea level in the urban areas of Lebanon and other East Mediterranean countries. [source] Mixed-longitudinal growth of Karimojong girls and boys in Moroto District, UgandaAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Sandra Gray In this article we examine results of a mixed-longitudinal study of child and adolescent growth among agropastoral Karimojong children in Moroto District, northeast Uganda. During a 5-month period from August to December, 2004, longitudinal data were collected for a mixed sample of 104 Karimojong children, aged from birth to 18 years. During a previous study in 1998,1999,we had measured 26 of these children who then ranged in Age between 3 months and 7 years. Most of the children were small and thin relative to accepted growth standards, and prevalence of stunting and wasting in childhood was high. In the period from the end of childhood through adolescence, however, Karimojong girls showed marked variability in annual growth, with some attaining a large adult size relative to what we predicted based on their poor childhood growth. Developmental, evolutionary, and environmental determinants are considered. We conclude that growth of these children reflects exposure to environmental insults that vary unpredictably within relatively short intervals. Variability in the magnitude and timing of these insults among children from different birth-cohorts is probably sufficient to account for so-called "shifting" of growth percentiles in childhood and adolescence in this mixed sample. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Synchrony between growth and reproductive patterns in human females: Early investment in growth among Pumé foragersAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Karen L. Kramer Abstract Life history is an important framework for understanding many aspects of ontogeny and reproduction relative to fitness outcomes. Because growth is a key influence on the timing of reproductive maturity and age at first birth is a critical demographic variable predicting lifetime fertility, it raises questions about the synchrony of growth and reproductive strategies. Among the Pumé, a group of South American foragers, young women give birth to their first child on average at age 15.5. Previous research showed that this early age at first birth maximizes surviving fertility under conditions of high infant mortality. In this study we evaluate Pumé growth data to test the expectation that if early reproduction is advantageous, then girls should have a developmental trajectory that best prepares them for young childbearing. Analyses show that comparatively Pumé girls invest in skeletal growth early, enter puberty having achieved a greater proportion of adult body size and grow at low velocities during adolescence. For early reproducers growing up in a food-limited environment, a precocious investment in growth is advantageous because juveniles have no chance of pregnancy and it occurs before the onset of the competing metabolic demands of final reproductive maturation and childbearing. Documenting growth patterns under preindustrial energetic and demographic conditions expands the range of developmental variation not otherwise captured by normative growth standards and contributes to research on human phenotypic plasticity in diverse environments. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Breastfeeding duration and exclusivity associated with infants' health and growth: data from a prospective cohort study in Bavaria, GermanyACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 6 2009Barbara Rebhan Abstract Aim: To investigate the relationship between breastfeeding and infant health and to describe growth in the first 9 months. Methods: Mothers delivering a baby in April 2005 were recruited throughout Bavaria, Germany, for a prospective birth cohort study. These mothers reported breastfeeding data, health and growth data of 1901 infants assessed by a physician in questionnaires on day 2,6, and in months 2, 4, 6 and 9. Subjects were healthy term infants with a birth weight ,2500 g. We compared 475 infants breastfed exclusively for ,6 months (group A), 870 infants breastfed fully/exclusively ,4 months, but not exclusively ,6 months (group B) and 619 infants not breastfed/breastfed <4 months (group C). Results: In multivariate analysis ,6 months of exclusive breastfeeding reduced significantly the risk for ,1 episode of gastrointestinal infection(s) during months 1,9 compared to no/<4 months breastfeeding (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44,0.82). The application of the World Health Organization (WHO) , child growth standards showed lower weight-for-length z-scores in first days of life in group C versus groups A and B, whereas in months 6/7 group C showed the highest scores. Conclusion: Differences in child growth depending on breastfeeding duration should be investigated further. Concerning health outcomes our findings support the recommendation for ,6 months of exclusive breastfeeding. [source] Cerebral palsy and intrauterine growth in single births: European collaborative studyCHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2004Richard Reading Background Cerebral palsy seems to be more common in term babies whose birthweight is low for their gestational age at delivery, but past analyses have been hampered by small datasets and Z -score calculation methods. Methods We compared data from 10 European registers for 4503 singleton children with cerebral palsy born between 1976 and 1990 with the number of births in each study population. Weight and gestation of these children were compared with reference standards for the normal spread of gestation and weight-for-gestational age at birth. Findings Babies of 32,42 weeks' gestation with a birthweight for gestational age below the 10th percentile (using fetal growth standards) were 4,6 times more likely to have cerebral palsy than were children in a reference band between the 25th and 75th percentiles. In children with a weight above the 97th percentile, the increased risk was smaller (from 1.6 to 3.1), but still significant. Those with a birthweight about 1 SD above average always had the lowest risk of cerebral palsy. A similar pattern was seen in those with unilateral or bilateral spasticity, as in those with a dyskinetic or ataxic disability. In babies of less than 32 weeks' gestation, the relation between weight and risk was less clear. Interpretation The risk of cerebral palsy, like the risk of perinatal death, is lowest in babies who are of above average weight-for-gestation at birth, but risk rises when weight is well above normal as well as when it is well below normal. Whether deviant growth is the cause or a consequence of the disability remains to be determined. [source] Birth weight charts for gestational age in 63 620 healthy infants born in Peruvian public hospitals at low and at high altitudeACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 3 2009Gustavo F Gonzales Abstract Aim: To construct distribution curves for birth weight, length and head circumference using a large sample of infants born at low (150 m) and high (3000,4400 m) altitude. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of a perinatal database. All live singleton deliveries from public hospitals during 2001,2006 (gestational age from 26 to 42 weeks) with no history of perinatal deaths or smoking and no current obstetric complications (n = 63 620) were included. Fractional polynomial regression models were used to smooth curves for each gestational age. Results: Mean and median birth weight differences between those born at low and high altitudes reached statistical significance after 35 and 33 weeks, respectively. Values of the 10th percentile were higher at low altitude from 36 weeks, whereas values at the 90th percentile were different from 34 weeks. In the Peruvian growth curves, birth weight was greater at each gestational age than in the curves derived by Lubchenco. Conclusion: Altitude affects growth patterns; these growth standards will provide useful references for the care of the newborn in highland populations. In addition, the data have implications for the antepartum management of pregnant patients undergoing sonographic evaluation of fetal weight in whom new definitions of what represents small or large for gestational age in utero can result in differences in time or mode of delivery. [source] | |||||||||||||