A longitudinal study of physical growth of small for date infants from birth to six years

Abstract In a longitudinal study 62 term small for date (SFD) and 63 term appropriate for gestational age (AGA) control children were followed from birth to six years of age. Weight, height and head circuference were recorded at the specified ages of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months ± 1 week in the first year and every 6 mean weight, height and head circumferece of SFD group was dignificantly lower than the control group. However, the differences in mean weight, height and head circumference decreased from 41.4%, 10.4% and 7.3% at birth to 11.0%, 2.3% and 3.2% at 6 years respectively. The mean growth velocity of the SFD group was similar to the control group with the maximum velocity occuring in the first 3 months of life.