Growth curves of low-birth-weight infants updated over the past 50 years accept many exclusions and do not provide a standard way to assess the nutritional status of these infants regardless of their diseases in the neonatal period. A new way for assessment is proposed. It is based on the excess time expressed in percent beyond the allocated time for an infant to gain his birth weight and the excess drop in weight expressed in percent beyond the allowed drop of weight. This method delineates one zone of adequate nutrition and three zones of malnutrition: mild, moderate, and severe.
KEYWORDS
Low-birth-weight infants - growth curves - nutrition
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Nabil MounlaM.D.
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