Growth monitoring of very low-birth weight infants

Abstract

Very low-birth weight (VLBW) infants suffer significant perinatal and neonatal morbidity. The survival of VLBW infants has improved over the past few decades. However, their long-term growth and neurodevelopmental outcome remain a cause of concern. Conventionally, their growth is plotted on intrauterine growth charts, which have universally shown a growth lag during the neonatal period. Subsequently, many of these neonates catch-up in growth during infancy and childhood. Both poor postnatal growth and a rapid catch-up during early childhood have been associated with adverse long-term outcomes. There is still no clarity on what the optimal growth pattern for these infants should be. There is a need to develop population-specific longitudinal growth charts to monitor the long-term growth of VLBW infants.

Keywords

• very low-birth weight (vlbw) infants
• growth charts
• catch-up growth
• z-scores