Growth outcomes for Australian Aboriginal children aged 11 years who were born with intrauterine growth retardation at term gestation

Long-term poor growth outcomes are well documented for intrauterine growth-retarded babies (IUGR) in developed populations but there is a paucity of IUGR studies from disadvantaged populations where the greatest burden of IUGR occurs. Using a Northern Territory, Aboriginal cohort recruited at birth and followed up at a mean age of 11.4 years, comparisons of body size were made between children born at term who had been IUGR (n = 121) and those non-IUGR (n = 341), and between those IUGR babies who had an appropriate ponderal index at birth (n = 72) and those with a low ponderal index (n = 49). Compared with non-IUGR children, at follow-up the IUGR children were almost 2 cm shorter (P = 0.10), 4 kg lighter (P < 0.01) and their head circumferences were almost a 1 cm smaller (P < 0.01). For the 121 term IUGR children, there were no significant differences in growth outcomes according to ponderal index measures at birth. These findings from an Australian Aboriginal sample are consistent with other comparisons of IUGR and non-IUGR children in developed populations and suggest there may be no additional effects of IUGR on growth in childhood for disadvantaged populations similar to the Aboriginal population in the Northern Territory.