An anthropometric survey of US pre-term and full-term neonates

for the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act – Pediatric Trials Network

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Anthropometric data prove valuable for screening and monitoring various medical conditions. In young infants, however, only weight, length and head circumference are represented in publicly accessible databases. Aim: To characterise length and circumferential measures in pre-term and full-term infants up to 90 days post-natal. Subjects and methods: In eight US medical centres, trained raters recorded humeral, ulnar, femoral, tibial and fibular lengths along with mid-upper arm, mid-thigh, chest, abdominal and neck circumference. Data were pooled by post-menstrual age into 1-week intervals and population curves created using the lambda, mu and sigma (LMS) method. Goodness-of-fit was assessed by examining de-trended quantile-quantile plots, Q statistics and fitted centiles overlaid on empirical centiles. Results: In total, 2097 infants were enrolled in this study with a mean ± SD gestational age and post-natal age of 37.1 ± 3.3 weeks and 27.3 ± 25.3 days, respectively. A re-scale option was used to describe all curves. The resultant models reliably characterised anthropometric measures from 33–52 weeks PMA, with less certainty at the extremes (27–55 weeks). Conclusion: The population curves generated under this investigation expand existing reference data on a comprehensive set of anthropometric traits in infants through the first 90 days post-natal.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)678-686
Number of pages9
JournalAnnals of Human Biology
Volume44
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 17 2017

Keywords

  • Extra-uterine growth
  • anthropometry
  • circumference
  • growth reference
  • infants
  • limb length

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology
  • Physiology
  • Aging
  • Genetics
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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