Comparison of Postnatal Growth Charts of Singleton Preterm and Term Infants Using World Health Organization Standards at 40-160 Weeks Postmenstrual Age: A Chinese Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.

There remains controversy regarding whether the growth charts constructed from data of term infants, such as those produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, can appropriately evaluate the postnatal growth of preterm infants. This retrospective cohort study, conducted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University in Jinan China, aimed to compare the postnatal growth charts of singleton preterm and term infants using WHO standards at 40-160 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). A total of 5,459 and 15,185 sets of longitudinal measurements [length/height, weight, head circumference (HC), and body mass index (BMI)] from birth to 160 weeks PMA were used to construct growth charts for 559 singleton preterm (mean PMA at birth, 33.