Recent advances in understanding pathophysiology of nonnutritional stunting in very preterm infants.

Very preterm infants (VPIs) often experience extrauterine growth failure. Therefore, aggressive nutritional management of VPIs is recommended with the goal of achieving the postnatal growth of an equivalent fetus. However, VPIs frequently present postnatal length growth restriction at term-corrected age that remains lower than the standard weight and have greater fat mass and lower lean and bone mass than term-born infants.

Inflammation induces stunting by lowering bone mass via GH/IGF-1 inhibition in very preterm infants.

Background: Sustained systemic inflammatory response (SIR) was associated with poor postnatal growth in very preterm infants (VPI). We hypothesize that VPI with sustained SIR will exhibit linear growth retardation related to lower bone mass accrual mediated by GH/IGF-1 axis inhibition at term corrected age (CA).

Methods: C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, anthropometric, nutritional, neonatal and maternal data were collected prospectively in 23 infants <32 weeks gestational age.

Socioeconomic inequalities in low birth weight risk before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have exacerbated existing socioeconomic inequalities in health. In Argentina, public hospitals serve the poorest uninsured segment of the population, while private hospitals serve patients with health insurance. This study aimed to assess whether socioeconomic inequalities in low birth weight (LBW) risk changed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.