Einstein (São Paulo) (Sep 2011)
Association of newborn diseases with weight/length ratio and the adequacy of weight for gestational age
Abstract
Objective: To compare the frequencies of newborn diseases in thosenewborns classified according to a weight/length rate and thoseclassified by the adequacy weight for gestational age. Methods: Aretrospective cross-sectional study by record assessment was carriedout enclosing all the live newborns at Hospital Geral do Grajaú, fromSeptember to December, 2009 (n =577) classified according to therate weight/length and also to the adequacy weight for gestationalage. The 10 and 90 percentiles of the weight/length distribution, nowdesignated as “indices” were calculated leading to the followingclassification: low index, for newborns below 54.8 g/cm; high index,for those over 75.8 g/cm; and average index, for the remainingnewborns. According to the adequacy weight for gestational age thenewborns were designated as pre-term for gestational age; term smallfor gestational age; appropriate term and large term. In this samplethere were no small and large pre-term or post-term newborns. Majordiseases were related to the index and adequacy extracts by the χ2test for a contingency table. Results: A significant association wasfound among low index, pre-term for gestational age newborns andterm small for gestational age; between average index and appropriatefor gestational age term newborns; and high index with large termappropriate for gestational age newborns (p< 0.001). Hypoglycemia(3.4%) was associated to both low and high indices, to appropriatefor gestational age preterm newborns and to small for gestational ageterm newborns. Sepsis (3.1%) was associated to both low index andpre-term appropriate for gestational age newborns. The respiratorydistress syndrome (1.3%) was associated to low index and pre-termappropriate for gestational age newborns. Other respiratory distresssyndromes (3.8%) were associated to low and high indices but notto the adequacy for gestational age classification. Jaundice (14.9%)was not associated to the studied classifications. Perinatal asphyxia(12.6%) was associated to low index and pre-term newborns.Conclusion: The weight/length index may represent a contribution tothe newborn risk classification being similar to that of the weight for gestational age adequacy, for the studied diseases.
