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Multicenter Study
. 2017 Dec;44(8):678-686.
doi: 10.1080/03014460.2017.1392603. Epub 2017 Nov 7.

An anthropometric survey of US pre-term and full-term neonates

Susan M Abdel-Rahman  1 , Ian M Paul  2 , Paula Delmore  3 , Laura James  4 , Laura Fearn  5 , Andrew M Atz  6 , Brenda B Poindexter  7 , Amira Al-Uzri  8 , Andrew Lewandowski  9 , Barrie L Harper  10 , P Brian Smith  10 ; Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act – Pediatric Trials Network
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

An anthropometric survey of US pre-term and full-term neonates

Susan M Abdel-Rahman et al. Ann Hum Biol. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Anthropometric data prove valuable for screening and monitoring various medical conditions. In young infants, however, only weight, length and head circumference are represented in publicly accessible databases.

Aim: To characterise length and circumferential measures in pre-term and full-term infants up to 90 days post-natal.

Subjects and methods: In eight US medical centres, trained raters recorded humeral, ulnar, femoral, tibial and fibular lengths along with mid-upper arm, mid-thigh, chest, abdominal and neck circumference. Data were pooled by post-menstrual age into 1-week intervals and population curves created using the lambda, mu and sigma (LMS) method. Goodness-of-fit was assessed by examining de-trended quantile-quantile plots, Q statistics and fitted centiles overlaid on empirical centiles.

Results: In total, 2097 infants were enrolled in this study with a mean ± SD gestational age and post-natal age of 37.1 ± 3.3 weeks and 27.3 ± 25.3 days, respectively. A re-scale option was used to describe all curves. The resultant models reliably characterised anthropometric measures from 33-52 weeks PMA, with less certainty at the extremes (27-55 weeks).

Conclusion: The population curves generated under this investigation expand existing reference data on a comprehensive set of anthropometric traits in infants through the first 90 days post-natal.

Keywords: Extra-uterine growth; anthropometry; circumference; growth reference; infants; limb length.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Histograms of z-scores for weight, length and head circumference for the (A) full-term and (B) pre-term infants enrolled in this survey.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fitted centiles overlaid on raw centiles for the anthropomentric measures in infants 27–55 weeks post-menstrual age: (A) humeral length; (B) ulnar length; (C) femoral length; (D) fibular length; (E) tibial length; (F) mid-upper arm circumference; (G) mid-thigh circumference; (H) abdominal circumference; (I) chest circumference; (J) neck circumference. Dashed lines depict areas of reduced certainty wherein only a small number of infants were available for fitting.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fitted centiles overlaid on raw centiles for the anthropomentric measures in infants 27–55 weeks post-menstrual age: (A) humeral length; (B) ulnar length; (C) femoral length; (D) fibular length; (E) tibial length; (F) mid-upper arm circumference; (G) mid-thigh circumference; (H) abdominal circumference; (I) chest circumference; (J) neck circumference. Dashed lines depict areas of reduced certainty wherein only a small number of infants were available for fitting.
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