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Down syndrome birth weight in England and Wales: Implications for clinical practice

Morris, JK; Cole, TJ; Springett, AL; Dennis, J; (2015) Down syndrome birth weight in England and Wales: Implications for clinical practice. Am J Med Genet A , 167 (12) pp. 3070-3075. 10.1002/ajmg.a.37366. Green open access

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine if syndrome-specific birth weight charts were beneficial for babies with Down syndrome in England and Wales. Birth weights of 8,825 babies with Down syndrome born in England and Wales in 1989-2010 were obtained from the National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register. Birth weight centiles for 30-42 weeks gestation by sex were fitted using the LMS method and were compared to those for unaffected babies from the UK-WHO growth charts. For babies born with Down syndrome the median birth weight from 37 to 42 weeks was 2,970 g (10th-90th centile: 2,115-3,680) for boys and 2930 g (2,100-3,629) for girls, and the modal age of gestation was 38 weeks, 2 weeks earlier than for unaffected babies. At 38 weeks gestation they were only slightly lighter than unaffected babies (159 g for boys and 86 g for girls). However at 40 weeks gestation the shortfall was much greater (304 g and 239 g, respectively). In neonates with Down syndrome there is little evidence of growth restriction before 38 weeks gestation, so up to this age it is appropriate to use the UK-WHO birth weight charts. Thereafter birth weight is below that of unaffected babies and it should be plotted on the UK Down syndrome growth charts.

Type: Article
Title: Down syndrome birth weight in England and Wales: Implications for clinical practice
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.37366
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.a.37366
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Down syndrome, birth weight, gestational age, growth charts, trisomy 21
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/1483775
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