Changes in the body weight of term infants, born in the tropics, during the first seven days of life

BMC Pediatrics

François Nosten¹  Rose McGready¹  Marcus Rijken³  Naw Moo Ku Paw³  Naw Aye Mya Thien³  Verena Carrara²  Claudia Turner¹ 

[1] Centre for Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom;Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Bangkok 10400, Thailand;Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mae Sot 63110, Thailand

关键词: Weight velocity;    Weight gain;    Weight loss;    Neonate;   

Others  :  1144764
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2431-13-93

 received in 2013-01-22, accepted in 2013-06-11,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Identifying unwell neonates, particularly in the first week of life, is often subjective. If normal values are known, calculating the weight lost or gained from birth weight can be a useful adjunct in the evaluation of the health of a neonate.

Methods

Serial body weights of well, term, breast fed infants who were attending for routine follow up, were recorded at the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit clinic in Maela Camp for displaced persons on the Thailand Myanmar border. Newborn examination was routine. Weight loss, expressed as percent weight lost from birth weight, and weight gain, expressed as a velocity (g/kg/day), was calculated for the first seven days of life. The results from normal birth weight infants, low birth weight infants (<2.5 kg) and small for gestational age infants (SGA) were examined.

Results

In the first week of life there were no significant differences in weight gained or lost across the three study groups. The maximum weight lost was 4.4% (95% CI 4.1 – 4.6%), which occurred on day three. Weight gain ranged from 13 g/kg/day [95% CI 10 – 16] on day four to 18 g/kg/day [95% CI 15 – 20] on days six and seven.

Conclusions

Use of these normal values for weight gain and loss, allows infants falling outside of the expected range (95% CI) to be easily identified and subsequently highlighted as needing further medical review.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Turner et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 5.

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