Are fetal and early neonatal period defining our life destiny?

Abstract

Children born small for gestational age (SGA) are classified as instants whose birth weight and/or birth length deviates more than 2 SD below the average for gestational age. They are at high risk of developing serious metabolic disorders by the process of foetal and early neonatal programming. Any structural or functional changes that occur in this way are generally irreversible. As a result, sudden addition in body weight is enabling early constitution of the metabolic syndrome with all its consequences, including high early cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality as well as other organ systems disturbances. About 65,000 children are born annually in Serbia. According to a respectable database of children treated with growth hormone, during period of 9 years were born about 590,000 children and about 10% of them were SGA (59,000 of them). 10% i.e. 5,900 of them should receive a growth hormone. However, only 260 children who receive growth hormone are in the database (only 4% of them are detected). More tragically - none of SGA children with rapid postnatal growth, programmed for adult illness, has been recognized until this day!.

Keywords

• small for gestational age (SGA)
• fetal programming
• metabolic syndrome