LONDON: As many as 13 million additional new-borns across the globe, now considered "normal" will soon be designated as undernourished — thanks to the world's first international standards for fetal growth and new-born size have been developed by a global team led by scientists from Oxford University.
For the first time, all 120 million babies born each year across the world can be assessed using a common set of standards, reflecting how babies should grow when mothers have adequate health, nutrition, medical care and socioeconomic status.
The standards depict the desirable pattern of healthy growth for all babies everywhere, regardless of their ethnicity or country of birth.
They provide 3rd, 10th, 50th, 90th and 97th centile curves for the growth of a baby during pregnancy (as measured by ultrasound) and for a baby's size at birth according to gestational age (weight, length and head circumference). This means it will be possible to detect underweight and overweight babies early in life no matter where in the world they are born.
"Being able to identify millions of additional undernourished babies at birth provides an opportunity for them to receive nutritional support and targeted treatment, without which close to 5% are likely to die in their first year or develop severe, long-term health problems," says senior author Professor Jose Villar of Oxford University.
The international standards - one for the growing fetus and the other for new-borns have been developed as part of the landmark Intergrowth -21st project which took over 300 clinicians and researchers from 27 institutions across the world six years to complete.
Poor growth in the womb resulting in small size at birth is associated with illness and death in infancy and childhood. It also impacts on adult health with increased risks of diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
Smaller babies result in substantial costs for health services and they are a significant economic burden on society as a whole.
At present, over 100 different, locally produced, growth charts are used around the world to assess fetal growth and newborn size. These only describe how babies grew in a particular population or region at a given time. International standards, on the other hand, describe what can be achieved with optimally healthy growth.
The INTERGROWTH-21st Project involved almost 60,000 pregnant women in eight well-defined urban areas in Brazil, China, India, Italy, Kenya, Oman, the UK and USA.
From this very large number, over 4,600 healthy, well-nourished women with problem-free pregnancies were enrolled to construct the standards.
Ultrasound scans were performed every five weeks from early pregnancy (14 weeks' gestation) to delivery to generate the first international standards for fetal growth. Identical methods and the same ultrasound machines provided by Philips Healthcare were used in all countries.
Measurements of weight, length, and head circumference for more than 20,000 babies born between 33 and 42 weeks' gestation were used to generate the new-born standards.
"We have produced the first international standards describing how babies in the womb should grow when they are provided with good health care and nutrition, and are living in a healthy environment," said professor Stephen Kennedy of Oxford University.
Dr Julian Robinson of Harvard Medical School said "These are reliable tools to recognise inappropriate growth that can be applied to all the 120 million babies born every year in the world. In developed countries, introducing the standards will lead to more infants being diagnosed at birth as overweight and treated earlier to prevent chronic diseases later in life".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/First-international-standards-to-assess-growth-of-babies-developed/articleshow/41811554.cms
For the first time, all 120 million babies born each year across the world can be assessed using a common set of standards, reflecting how babies should grow when mothers have adequate health, nutrition, medical care and socioeconomic status.
The standards depict the desirable pattern of healthy growth for all babies everywhere, regardless of their ethnicity or country of birth.
They provide 3rd, 10th, 50th, 90th and 97th centile curves for the growth of a baby during pregnancy (as measured by ultrasound) and for a baby's size at birth according to gestational age (weight, length and head circumference). This means it will be possible to detect underweight and overweight babies early in life no matter where in the world they are born.
"Being able to identify millions of additional undernourished babies at birth provides an opportunity for them to receive nutritional support and targeted treatment, without which close to 5% are likely to die in their first year or develop severe, long-term health problems," says senior author Professor Jose Villar of Oxford University.
The international standards - one for the growing fetus and the other for new-borns have been developed as part of the landmark Intergrowth -21st project which took over 300 clinicians and researchers from 27 institutions across the world six years to complete.
Poor growth in the womb resulting in small size at birth is associated with illness and death in infancy and childhood. It also impacts on adult health with increased risks of diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
Smaller babies result in substantial costs for health services and they are a significant economic burden on society as a whole.
At present, over 100 different, locally produced, growth charts are used around the world to assess fetal growth and newborn size. These only describe how babies grew in a particular population or region at a given time. International standards, on the other hand, describe what can be achieved with optimally healthy growth.
The INTERGROWTH-21st Project involved almost 60,000 pregnant women in eight well-defined urban areas in Brazil, China, India, Italy, Kenya, Oman, the UK and USA.
From this very large number, over 4,600 healthy, well-nourished women with problem-free pregnancies were enrolled to construct the standards.
Ultrasound scans were performed every five weeks from early pregnancy (14 weeks' gestation) to delivery to generate the first international standards for fetal growth. Identical methods and the same ultrasound machines provided by Philips Healthcare were used in all countries.
Measurements of weight, length, and head circumference for more than 20,000 babies born between 33 and 42 weeks' gestation were used to generate the new-born standards.
"We have produced the first international standards describing how babies in the womb should grow when they are provided with good health care and nutrition, and are living in a healthy environment," said professor Stephen Kennedy of Oxford University.
Dr Julian Robinson of Harvard Medical School said "These are reliable tools to recognise inappropriate growth that can be applied to all the 120 million babies born every year in the world. In developed countries, introducing the standards will lead to more infants being diagnosed at birth as overweight and treated earlier to prevent chronic diseases later in life".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/First-international-standards-to-assess-growth-of-babies-developed/articleshow/41811554.cms
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