Morkuniene, Ruta;
Cole, Tim J;
Levuliene, Ruta;
Suchomlinov, Andrej;
Tutkuviene, Janina;
(2025)
The associations of preterm birth and low birth weight with childhood growth curves between birth and 12 years: a SITAR-based longitudinal analysis.
Annals of Human Biology
, 52
(1)
, Article 2472757. 10.1080/03014460.2025.2472757.
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Abstract
Background: Children born preterm grow differently from those born at term. Aim: To compare growth in length/height, weight, and BMI of preterm- and term-born children, grouped by birth weight (BW) and gestational age (GA). Subjects and Methods: Longitudinal data of 950 children (birth to 12 years) were collected retrospectively. Growth trajectories were modelled using SITAR (Superimposition by Translation and Rotation) by sex, with three groups each for GA and BW. Results: SITAR summarised growth patterns from birth to 12 years and explained 76–79% of height variance, 90–92% for weight, and 72–75% for BMI. Early preterm and low BW groups were shorter, lighter and thinner on average than their term or normal BW peers, with late preterm and low-normal BW groups intermediate. Effects were larger for BW than GA, e.g. early preterm girls/boys were 0.3/0.8 kg lighter, 0.9/0.9 cm shorter and 0.8/0.8 kg/m<sup>2</sup> thinner, while low BW girls/boys were 0.5/1.0 kg lighter, 1.5/1.4 cm shorter and 0.8/0.9 kg/m<sup>2</sup> thinner. Moreover, faster growth rates were associated with lower BW. Conclusion: Both BW and GA significantly impacted growth, but low BW more so than early preterm birth. This underscores the need for targeted interventions for low BW children to address potential long-term growth challenges.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The associations of preterm birth and low birth weight with childhood growth curves between birth and 12 years: a SITAR-based longitudinal analysis |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/03014460.2025.2472757 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2025.2472757 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Anthropology, Biology, Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics, Preterm infants, growth, longitudinal study, SITAR, GESTATIONAL-AGE, CHILDREN, HEIGHT, BORN, SIZE, TRAJECTORIES, INFANTS, TEMPO |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10209931 |
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