K. Zellner et K. Kromeyer-hauschild, Somatic development of children born with very low birth weight (< 1500 g)and/or born very premature (< 32 weeks of gestation), MONATS KIND, 148(2), 2000, pp. 131-137
Objective: Concerning the long-term somatic development of children born wi
th very low birth weight and/or born very premature,there are varying and s
ometimes contradictory statements. A follow-up study was carried out on pre
mature-born children from Thuringia and Saxonia at pre-school and early sch
ool age in order to investigate the long-term somatic development of these
children. Anthropological parameters were examined and compared with the da
ta of a reference group.
Methods: Of 75 boys and 53 girls aged 5 to 9.5 years with a birth weight of
less than 1500 g and/or a gestational age of less than 32 weeks the follow
ing anthropological characteristics were analysed after transformation into
standard deviation scores (SDS): body height, body weight, body mass index
, metric index and head circumference. Reference Values were obtained from
the Jena longitudinal study. Using multiple linear regression analysis,the
influence of selected biological and socio-economic variables on the postna
tal body height development was analysed.
Results: At the age of 5 to 9.5 years the average SOS-values of body height
, body weight, body mass index (only boys) and head circumference of premat
ure-barn children are significantly below reference values. There is a tend
ency to greater SDS-deviations in boys. The multiple linear regression mode
l presented here shows that birth weight, gestational age, parental body he
ight and rank in the birth order significantly influence the postnatal deve
lopment of the body height.
Conclusions: It has been shown that on average premature-born children have
not caught up on their retardation by pre-school and beginning-of-school a
ge. The individual development of these children varies considerably due to
constitutional, neonatal and social factors.