Head circumference at birth and postnatal growth trajectory in vulnerable groups from Argentina

GONZÁLEZ GARELLO, TOMÁS; BARBEITO?ANDRÉS, JIMENA; PÉREZ, ADRIANA; CUETO, GERARDO; NUÑEZ, PABLO; BONFILI, NOELIA; GONZALEZ, PAULA

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

WILEY

Año: 2024

2692-7691

AbstractObjectivesTo investigate the association between the anthropometric status at birth and brain and bone growth during the first year of life. According to the brain-sparing hypothesis, we expect catch-up to be faster in head circumference (HC) than in body length.MethodsThis is a longitudinal design that included Argentinian infants under 12 months of age with at least three anthropometric records. We classified study participants into four growth status categories according to z-scores for HC (HCZ) and length (LAZ) at birth, with z-score = −2 as a threshold. We used the Count model to describe growth trajectories in HC and length in the first year of life according to the growth status at birth. Recovery indicator for HC and length was taken as the time until the predicted growth trajectory surpassed the threshold curve predicted by z-score = −2 for age.ResultsGrowth models included 3399 infants. There were significant differences in the growth parameters between groups in all cases (p