Effect of weight growth velocity in the early stage after birth on neurodevelopment of preterm infants at the corrected age of 12 months

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of weight growth velocity in the early stage after birth on the neurodevelopment of preterm infants at the corrected age of 12 months. METHODS Related data were collected from the preterm infants who were discharged from the Department of Neonatology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, from July 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019 and were followed up at the outpatient service of high-risk infants. According to the weight growth velocity from birth to the corrected gestational age of 40 weeks, the infants were divided into two groups: low velocity [< 10 g/(kg·d); n=21] and high velocity [≥10 g/(kg·d); n=87]. At the corrected ages of 3, 6, and 12 months, Gesell Developmental Schedules were used to evaluate and compare neurodevelopment between the two groups. RESULTS At the corrected age of 12 months, the low velocity group had a significantly lower score of fine motor (P < 0.05) and a significantly higher abnormal rate of language ability score compared with high velocity (P < 0.05). For the preterm infants with a birth weight of < 1 500 g or ≥1 500 g, the low velocity group had a significantly lower score of fine motor than the high velocity group (P < 0.05); for the preterm infants with a birth weight of ≥1 500 g, the low velocity group had a significantly higher abnormal rate of language ability score than the high velocity group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The weight growth velocity from birth to the corrected age of 40 weeks affects the development of fine motor and language in preterm infants at the corrected age of 12 months; however it needs to be further verified by large-sample studies.