Premature babies usually reach the same weight as full-term babies in their teens.

The risks associated with preterm birth have been investigated in several disciplines. In fact, it is considered one of the main causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Scientific studies suggest that the conditions we are exposed to during the first years of life play an important role in our cardiometabolic health and, consequently, in our body size.

AN new international jobwith the participation of the University of Valencia and the Biomedical Network Research Consortium (CIBERESP), reveals that premature children –born at less than 37 weeks of gestation– tend to reach, before becoming adults, the same body size as those born at the end this.

Most previous research linking preterm birth and body size has looked at birth weight as the main indicator. However, the recent publication focused on the length of gestation. Thus, they demonstrated that this last indicator influences body size in childhood and that the intensity of the association attenuates with age.

Although premature babies are generally at greater health, social and cognitive risk, they achieve the same body mass index as the rest

Johan Vinther

“Although premature babies may generally have a higher health, social and cognitive risk, they achieve the same body mass index (BMI) as the rest. These findings are, in a way, reassuring,” Johan Vinther, a researcher at the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and lead author of the study, told SINC.

This was based on 16 cohorts from which data were extracted from 253,810 mothers and their children from Europe, North America and Australia. The results were published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

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Premature birth and overweight

The researchers also found that while preterm infants are less likely to be overweight during childhood than their full-term peers, the opposite is true in adolescence. “In fact, we observed that the risk increases even more in the case of very premature babies”, emphasizes the scientist.

These changes are believed to increase susceptibility to overweight in preterm infants.

Johan Vinther

Faced with these observations, he explains that “a premature newborn adapts to extrauterine conditions and enters a growth phase that can cause bodily changes. It has been hypothesized that these changes increase susceptibility to overweight in preterm infants. Our findings are in line with similar results from studies from Finland and Australia.”

However, this last result must be interpreted with caution, since the sample was smaller. Furthermore, this publication is based on data from high-income countries, so the results are not generalizable to low- and middle-income countries.

Reference:

Vinther, J. et al. “Infants born preterm achieve similar BMIs as their full-term peers in adolescence, according to a meta-analysis of 253,810 individuals from 11 countries.” PLOS Medicine

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