1036 Growth Failure at 3 Years of Correct Age in Children Born Below 31 Weeks Gestation: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Background and aims: Early growth failure in extremely preterm infants is associated with negative long term outcomes. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence and postnatal risk factors of growth failure at 3 years correct age (c.a.) among children born below 31 wks GA. Methods: Anthropometric measures and background information of 133 AGA infants with GA ≤30 weeks were collected during their stay in NICU and then in a follow up program planned until 3 years c.a. Growth failure (GF) at 3 years was defined as a z score < -1.28. Results: At 3 years c.a the GF prevalence was 45.9% for weight, 34.6% for height and 30.3% for head circumference. Infants with weight growth failure (WGF) were similar to controls (C) for GA (27,7 ± 1.4 vs 27,8 ± 1,6 wks), BW (1026 ± 200 vs 1006 ± 219 g), nutritional intakes, main clinical and growth outcomes during the NICU stay. Multiple logisitic regression analysis showed that Zscore variation from birth to discharge was independently associated to WGF (OR 0.30, 95%CI 0.16-0.56) and HC GF (OR 0.29, 95%Cl 0.14-0.56). Conclusions: These data suggest that, in our population of ELBW infants, the early postnatal growth is an important prognostic factor of growth at least up to 36 months c.a.