Differences in early postnatal morbidity risk by pattern of fetal growth in Argentina

CAULFIELD, LAURA E.; HAAS, JERE D.; BELIZÁN, JOSÉ M.; RASMUSSEN, KATHLEEN M.; EDMONSTON, BARRY

PAEDIATRIC AND PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY.

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 1991 vol. 5 p. 263 - 275

0269-5022

Summary. Information on a cohort of 5539 singleton births delivered atterm in two hospitals in Rosario, Argentina, was used to examine differencesin early postnatal morbidity between small for gestational age(SGA) infants classified by their ponderal index (PI). SGA infants withlow PI (SGA-LPI) were 4.35 (90% CI: 1.50, 12.61) times more likely tohave asphyxia, 13.75 (2.48, 76.31) times more likely to have hypoglycaemiaand 2.32 (1.03, 5.26) times more likely to have respiratory distress(RD) than SGA infants with adequate PI (SGA-API). The increased risksof asphyxia and hypoglycaemia observed for SGA-LPI infants diminished,but remained statistically significant after controlling for the infant?sgender, birthweight, gestational age and hospital of birth. Therewas no difference in risk of hyperbilirubinaemia between SGA-API andSGA-LPI infants. With the exception of risk of hyperbilirubinaemia,SGA-API infants carried the same risks of morbidity as non-SGA infants.The results of the study show that SGA infants do not constitute ahomogeneous group with respect to their prospects for early postnatalhealth and survival. Furthermore, the pattern of differences in morbidityrisk between SGA-API and SGA-LPI infants observed in this study isconsistent with the timing hypothesis for the aetiology of variation in PIamong SGA infants.