Abstract

ALVARADO SOCARRAS, Jorge Luis; ORTEGA ORTEGA, Ingrid Pamela; MARTIN, Delia Theurel  and  VELOSA, Zhirly Andrea Fernández. Anthropometry assesment in healthy neonates. Not all measurements are relevant. CES Med. [online]. 2022, vol.36, n.3, pp.1-8.  Epub Jan 18, 2023. ISSN 0120-8705.  https://doi.org/10.21615/cesmedicina.6728.

Anthropometric measurements are used to assess fetal and neonatal growth and determine early risk factors. Classically, weight, height, head circumference, thoracic and abdominal circumference are the usual measures. They are used to identify conditions such as low or high weight for gestational age and, based on this, to determine early and late risks. Another important measurement is head circumference, which determines neonates with potential neurological risk. These three measures are key as part of the initial neonatal evaluation, and they are also a part of the child's growth monitoring and development. However, other routine measurements such as chest and abdominal circumferences, in newborns with spontaneous adaptation and normal physical examination (healthy neonates) may provide little information about the neonatal health status. These last measurements are not part of the child growth monitoring parameters, nor do they have percentile graphs that can be extrapolated to gender and gestational age. All these measures are conditioned by multiple factors such as genetics, race, and nutrition, among others. It is time to analyze routine measures at the time of birth of healthy newborns and prioritize those that can be extrapolated to relevant clinical implications.

Keywords : neonate; anthropometry; birth weight; small for gestational age; height; head circumference.

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