Risk factors associated with growth failure in the follow‐up of very low birth weight newborns

Abstract

Objective: To determine risk factors during neonatal hospital stay and follow‐up associated with failure to thrive in the first year of life of very low birth weight newborns. Methods: Study of preterm very low birth weight newborns followed from 2006 to 2013 in a public institutional hospital program. The study included newborns that attended at least one appointment in each of the three periods: Period I, up to 3 months of corrected age (CA); Period II, 4–6 months of CA; and Period III, 7–12 months of CA. The variables were analyzed by logistic regression with XLSTAT 2014 software (Microsoft®, WA, USA). Failure to thrive (Z‐score below −2 SD) was classified as a dichotomous dependent variable (0 – failure/1 – success), while the other variables were classified as explanatory variables for the hospitalization periods and for each of the follow‐up periods (I, II, and III). Results: Children born adequate for gestational age increased the chance of Z‐score for weight at discharge > −2 SD (OR = 10.217; 95% CI: 1.117–93.436). Metabolic bone disease and retinopathy of prematurity in Period I, as well as hospital readmissions in Periods II and III during follow‐up increased the chance of Z‐score < −2 SD. Conclusion: Failure to thrive is influenced by intrauterine factors and, subsequently, by several morbidities, both in the birth and hospitalization period, as well as in the post‐discharge period and thus, such variables should be prioritized in the follow‐up.

Keywords

• Preterm infant
• Growth
• Very low birth weight
• Risk factors