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Early Postnatal Growth in Preterm Infants and Cord Blood Leptin

Journal of Perinatology volume 24, pages 751–756 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Although circulating leptin and insulin concentration is linked to intrauterine growth, fetal development and birth weight in full-term infants, there has been no enquiry into the influence of cord blood insulin and leptin for catch-up growth in preterm infants. The study evaluated the association of cord blood leptin with growth and weight gain of 96 premature babies during 6 months (corrected age). The temporal changes of anthropometric indexes over this period were calculated by repeated random regression (PROC MIXED) using SAS. Cord blood leptin was negatively associated with the rate of change in BMI (p=0.01) and length (p<0.001), from birth until 64 postnatal weeks. Insulin was positively associated with the change rate in BMI (p=0.03); however, this disappeared when adjusted for birth weight. For the first time, the association between lower leptin levels with greater catch up growth is shown for both BMI and length among preterm children. In conclusion, leptin levels at birth, but not insulin levels, predict growth rates.

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Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to all the mothers and their children. We thank the staff of the Maternity, Department of Neonatology and Blood Bank (Instituto Fernandes Figueira/FIOCRUZ); Charley Velloso Santos, Inez Christina Bastos Azevedo, Rita Adriana Gomes de Souza e Antônio Celço Canduro.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Medicina Social da Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro, Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Vania Matos Fonseca PhD & Rosely Sichieri PhD

  2. FIOCRUZ/Instituto Fernandes Figueira, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Vania Matos Fonseca PhD & Maria Elizabeth Lopes Moreira MD

  3. Laboratório de Fisiologia da Nutrição e do Desenvolvimento das Ciências Fisiológicas, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Aníbal Sanchez Moura PhD

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  1. Vania Matos Fonseca PhD
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  2. Rosely Sichieri PhD
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  3. Maria Elizabeth Lopes Moreira MD
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  4. Aníbal Sanchez Moura PhD
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Additional information

This study was supported by a grant from WHO/Organización Panamericana de la Salud (HDP/HDR/RG- T/BRA/3143) and CNPQ.

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Fonseca, V., Sichieri, R., Moreira, M. et al. Early Postnatal Growth in Preterm Infants and Cord Blood Leptin. J Perinatol 24, 751–756 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211188

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