Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association
May 13, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Association between postnatal anthropometric growth by term and high-performing neurodevelopment at age 3 years in extremely preterm infants.
Maeda T, Tanahashi Y, Asada H, +14 more, Sato Y.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
In extremely preterm infants, body length growth by 40 weeks postmenstrual age independently predicted high-performing neurodevelopment at age 3, while weight gain did not.
What was studied
A retrospective study of 287 infants born before 28 weeks' gestation, relating anthropometric Z-scores for length, weight and head circumference at 32, 36 and 40 weeks postmenstrual age to neurodevelopment at age 3 categorised as delay, subnormal, normal or high-performing.
Key findings
- 287 infants evaluated
- Body length at 40 weeks postmenstrual age significantly associated with high-performing neurodevelopment (adjusted OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.49-2.32)
- Head circumference also associated (adjusted OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.04 to upper bound reported incompletely)
- Change in length Z-score from 36 to 40 weeks postmenstrual age was significantly associated with high-performing neurodevelopment
- Body weight and earlier Z-score changes were not associated
Clinical relevance
This suggests linear growth, rather than weight gain, may be the more informative growth marker to track in extremely preterm infants, which raises the question of whether nutritional strategies should target length and lean growth; the study is retrospective and the outcome is a favourable rather than adverse developmental category.
Who should care
Limitations
Retrospective single-cohort study of 287 infants with length measurement in preterm infants notoriously imprecise, outcomes categorised into four groups without stated validation, and residual confounding by illness severity likely.
Growing in length, not just gaining weight, is what tracks with the best developmental outcomes in extremely preterm babies.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the relationship between postnatal growth by term and high-performing neurodevelopment in infants born at less than 28 weeks of gestational age.
Methods
This retrospective study examined associations between anthropometric Z-scores (length, weight, head circumference) at 32, 36, and 40 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) and neurodevelopment at age 3 categorized into four groups (delay, subnormal, normal, high-performing).
Results
A total of 287 infants were evaluated. Body length at 40 weeks PMA was significantly associated with high-performing neurodevelopment (adjusted OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.49-2.32), followed by head circumference (adjusted OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.04-67). Changes in body length Z-scores from 36 to 40 weeks PMA were significantly associated with high-performing neurodevelopment, whereas body weight and earlier changes in Z-scores were not.
Conclusions
In extremely preterm infants, body length growth by 40 weeks PMA was an independent predictor for high-performing neurodevelopment at age 3, whereas body weight and earlier growth changes did not.
DOI
10.1038/s41372-026-02692-z
PMID
42129357
PMCID
PMC13588745
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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