Incomplete catch-up growth in low birthweight Chinese infants in Hong Kong.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the early catch-up growth in length in Chinese low birthweight (< 2500 g) infants.

METHODOLOGY: The infants (n = 181) were delivered between 1988 and 1993 and followed up at Queen Mary and Tsan Yuk Hospitals, Hong Kong. One third had a birthweight below -2SDS, most of whom were term or close-to-term babies small-for-gestational-age (SGA). The remaining babies were appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) in birthweight, but frequently born prematurely.

RESULTS: The SGA group did not show a catch-up growth in height comparable to that reported on other recent studies, as 33-35% of the patients were still short at 6 and 12 months (7-12% for the AGA group). When comparing the postnatal mean growth curve of the SGA group with the mean curve of the AGA group there was little sign of catch-up growth.

CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that Hong Kong SGA infants have an incomplete catch-up growth and for successful intervention the causative mechanisms have to be identified.