ArticleBMC pediatrics2013
Validating the weight gain of preterm infants between the reference growth curve of the fetus and the term infant.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 137 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Preterm Infant Multicentre Growth Study
Feasibility and Safety of Duodenal Feeds in Very Low Birth Weight Infants
Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Fenton Third-Generation Growth Charts of Preterm Infants Without Abnormal Fetal Growth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- Safety and Efficacy of Early High Parenteral Lipid Supplementation in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Carbohydrate supplementation of human milk to promote growth in preterm infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Fat supplementation of human milk for promoting growth in preterm infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Does acculturation affect the dietary intakes and body weight status of children of immigrants in the U.S. and other developed countries? A systematic review.Ethnicity & health · 2019Pooled it
- Carbohydrate supplementation of human milk to promote growth in preterm infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Fat supplementation of human milk for promoting growth in preterm infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Effect of early sodium supplementation on weight gain of very preterm infants: a randomised controlled trial.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Trial
- Effect of a Multi-Strain Probiotic on Growth and Time to Reach Full Feeds in Preterm Neonates.Nutrients · 2022Trial
- Recently Registered Midazolam Doses for Preterm Neonates Do Not Lead to Equal Exposure: A Population Pharmacokinetic Model.Journal of clinical pharmacology · 2019Trial
- Growth and Nutritional Biomarkers of Preterm Infants Fed a New Powdered Human Milk Fortifier: A Randomized Trial.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition · 2017Trial
- Early Cumulative Supplemental Oxygen Predicts Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in High Risk Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns.The Journal of pediatrics · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Retinopathy of prematurity risk prediction for infants with birth weight less than 1251 grams.The Journal of pediatrics · 2015Trial
- Static and longitudinal extrauterine growth restriction in very low birth weight infants: prevalence and associated factors.Jornal de pediatria · 2026Article
- In-utero HIV exposure and postnatal growth to 8 years of age: a prospective cohort study in the Western Cape, South Africa.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2026Article
- The impact of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome on subsequent preschool wheezing in very preterm infants: a multicenter cohort study.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2026Article
- Antenatal environmental exposure to indoor air pollution and environmental tobacco smoke: association with birth outcomes in an African birth cohort.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Article
- Multimodal Graphical Network Analysis of Small-for-Gestational-Age in Preterm Infants: Integrating Neonatal Brain Volume, Structural Connectivity, and Early Neurodevelopmental Outcome.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCurrent fetal-infant growth references have an obvious growth disjuncture around 40 week gestation overlapping where the fetal and infant growth references are combined. Graphical smoothening of the disjuncture to connect the matching percentile curves has never been validated. This study was designed to compare weight gain patterns of contemporary preterm infants with a fetal-infant growth reference (derived from a meta-analysis) to validate the previous smoothening assumptions and inform the revision of the Fenton chart.
methodsGrowth and descriptive data of preterm infants (23 to 31 weeks) from birth through 10 weeks post term age were collected in three cities in Canada and the USA between 2001 and 2010 (n = 977). Preterm infants were grouped by gestational age into 23-25, 26-28, and 29-31 weeks. Comparisons were made between the weight data of the preterm cohort and the fetal-infant growth reference.
resultsMedian weight gain curves of the three preterm gestational age groups were almost identical and remained between the 3rd and the 50th percentiles of the fetal-infant-growth-reference from birth through 10 weeks post term. The growth velocity of the preterm infants decreased in a pattern similar to the decreased velocity of the fetus and term infant estimates, from a high of 17-18 g/kg/day between 31-34 weeks to rates of 4-5 g/kg/day by 50 weeks in each gestational age group. The greatest discrepancy in weight gain velocity between the preterm infants and the fetal estimate was between 37 and 40 weeks; preterm infants grew more rapidly than the fetus. The infants in this study regained their birthweight earlier compared to those in the 1999 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development report.
conclusionThe weight gain velocity of preterm infants through the period of growth data disjuncture between 37 and 50 weeks gestation is consistent with and thus validates the smoothening assumptions made between preterm and post-term growth references.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.