Assesment of catch-up growth of small for gestational age neonates born at gestational age > 34 weeks in the first nine months of infancy

Background: Small-for-gestational-age (SGA), defined as infants whose birth weight is less than 10th percentile of the reference, is widely known to have higher risk for perinatal morbidity, growth restriction leading to persistent short stature, neurodevelopmental problems such as low intelligence quotient (IQ), and pubertal disorder in later life. In this study catch up growth was assessed for the first nine months of infancy. Method: This was a hospital based Prospective observational cohort study. A total of 170 newborns admitted in the postnatal ward was included in the study. Follow up appointments scheduled which corresponded to their vaccination schedule at 6 weeks,10 weeks,14 weeks, and at 9 months. Anthropometric measurement was taken within the first 24 hrs of life and plotted on growth chart (weight, length, head circumference) and the average of the three readings was noted. Anthropometry measurements were plotted on WHO growth charts for term babies and Fenton chart for preterm babies. Results: Catchup growth was achieved by 38 (27.7%) participants at 10 weeks, 33.6% by 14 weeks, 65% by 6 months and 72.3% by 9 months of age while 27.7% participants didn’t achieve catchup growth. Comparison of weight at birth and at 9 months and between term and preterm were statistically significant with p value of <0.001. Conclusion: Catch-up growth (CUG) was achieved in a substantial proportion of infants, particularly for weight (72.3%), length (68.6%), and head circumference (81.8%) by nine months. However, a notable percentage of infants did not achieve CUG, highlighting the need for targeted nutritional and healthcare interventions