Extremely and very preterm-born children

Abstract

To develop reference growth charts for body mass index (BMI), weight, length and head circumference in children born extremely preterm (EPT) or very preterm (VPT) with a birth weight <1500g. We analysed EPT and VPT children from the German Neonatal Network born between 2009 and 2013 without chronic diseases or medications influencing growth. These data of EPT and VPT datasets were split into a training dataset and a validation dataset. In the validation dataset, data from 385 EPT and 491 VPT children from birth to age 6years were analysed to calculate growth charts. The percentiles of length of EPT and VPT children were comparable to German reference percentiles. The BMI peak in infancy was attenuated, and BMI was lower in all the EPT and VPT children analysed. From 2years until 6years of age, head circumference was lower in EPT and VPT boys and girls. Deficits in height described in EPT cohorts born during the 1980s and 1990s were not seen in our cohort. However, EPT and VPT born children showed growth patterns that differed from national reference curves for BMI. The growth charts provided here can be used to judge the growth of EPT and VPT born children.