Prevalence of Small-for-Gestational-Age and Its Mortality Risk Varies by Choice of Birth-Weight-for-Gestation Reference Population
Open Access
- 18 March 2014
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 9 (3), e92074
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092074
Abstract
We use data from rural Nepal and South India to compare the prevalence of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and neonatal mortality risk associated with SGA using different birth-weight-for-gestation reference populations. We identified 46 reference populations in low-, middle-, and high-income countries, of which 26 met the inclusion criteria of being commonly cited and having numeric 10th percentile cut points published. Those reference populations were then applied to populations from two community-based studies to determine SGA prevalence and its relative risk of neonatal mortality. The prevalence of SGA ranged from 10.5% to 72.5% in Nepal, and 12.0% to 78.4% in India, depending on the reference population. Females had higher rates of SGA than males using reference populations that were not sex specific. SGA prevalence was lowest when using reference populations from low-income countries. Infants who were both preterm and SGA had much higher mortality risk than those who were term and appropriate-for-gestational-age. Risk ratios for those who are both preterm and SGA ranged from 7.34–17.98 in Nepal and 5.29–11.98 in India, depending on the reference population. These results demonstrate the value of a common birth-weight-for-gestation reference population that will facilitate comparisons of SGA prevalence and mortality risk across research studies.Keywords
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mortality risk in preterm and small-for-gestational-age infants in low-income and middle-income countries: a pooled country analysisThe Lancet, 2013
- The objectives, design and implementation of the INTERGROWTH‐21st ProjectBJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2013
- Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: an updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000The Lancet, 2012
- A global reference for fetal-weight and birthweight percentilesThe Lancet, 2011
- Differences in Birth Weight for Gestational Age Distributions According to the Measures Used to Assign Gestational AgeAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2010
- Impact of Newborn Skin-Cleansing With Chlorhexidine on Neonatal Mortality in Southern Nepal: A Community-Based, Cluster-Randomized TrialPublished by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) ,2007
- An analysis of intra-uterine growth retardation in rural MalawiEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2001
- Intrauterine Growth Standards for Hong Kong ChineseAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1986
- BIRTHWEIGHT DISTRIBUTION OF SINGAPORE CHINESE, MALAY AND INDIAN INFANTS FROM 34 WEEKS TO 42 WEEKS GESTATIONBJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 1972
- Intrauterine growth of live-born Caucasian infants at sea level: Standards obtained from measurements in 7 dimensions of infants born between 25 and 44 weeksThe Journal of Pediatrics, 1969