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Catch up growth and metabolic outcomes in adolescents born pre term
It is well known that the pattern of growth during early childhood is associated with markers of the metabolic syndrome in later life with the risk being greatest for low birth weight babies and those with in utero growth restriction. The data in infants born preterm is less clear with a number of potential confounding factors—including the fact that early growth failure is common in preterm infants with (usually) later catch up in the pre/immediate post discharge period. Embelton and colleagues report the weight gain, body composition, growth and metabolic outcome of 153 children born preterm (mean gestation 31 weeks, median birth weight 1365 g) at age 11.5 years. Height and weight were similar to population averages and did not differ between infants when grouped according to the degree of catch up in the immediate post discharge period (up to 12 weeks). There were no significant associations between infant growth and metabolic outcome. In contrast there were strong associations between more rapid childhood weight gain (after age 1 year) and subsequent body composition and metabolic outcome (higher blood pressure, higher fasting insulin, lower insulin sensitivity). The dataset suggests that patterns of early growth in preterm infants are not strongly associated with adverse metabolic outcomes in …
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