Abstract
In preterm infants, particularly VLBW infants, the head is flattened during the first weeks of life. This dolichocephaly is often associated with a high arched palate and protruding eyeballs. Hypothesis: The flattening of the head shape in very low birth weight infants is caused by gravity and favored by osteopenia.
Method: 1) The head shape (fronto-occipital diameter, biparietal d., biorbital d.) and the bone mineral content (BMC) of the right mid humerus were measured in 85 newborn infants within the first five postnatal days (birth weight 430 to 6760 g, gestational age 25 to 42 weeks) to obtain reference values. 2) The head shape (fronto-occipital/biparietal diameter ratio FOD/BPD) and BMC were measured in 220 VLBW infants until discharge. Multiple stepwise regression (BMDP2R) was calculated from 314 measurements to evaluate the contribution of BMC/body weight, gestational age, postnatal age, birth weight, and weight at time of measuring to the variation of head shape.
Results: 1) The FOD/BPD ratio after birth was nearly constant during 24 - 40 weeks of gestation (FOD/BPD = -0.00179 weeks + 1.337). 2) Summary table ol″ multiple stepwise regression analysis:
Conclusion: The BMC/ body weight ratio determined 51 % of the FOD/BPO variation in growing preterm infants. The other tested variables had only little or no detectable influence on the head shape. The changing in head shape, therefore, predominantly depended on the mineralization rate, i.e. on the amount of Ca/P supplement.
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Pohlandt, F. OSTEOPENIA AS THE MAIN FACTOR OF HEAD FLATTENING IN VLBW INFANTS. Pediatr Res 32, 618 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199211000-00078
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199211000-00078