Abnormal fetal aortic velocity waveform and postnatal growth.

Postnatal growth from birth up to 7 y of age was evaluated in 151 children with varying degrees of intrauterine growth retardation who were previously examined in their intrauterine life with Doppler velocimetry of the thoracic descending aorta. The children with abnormal fetal aortic blood flow class (BFC), of which 39/46 (85%) had a birthweight > or = 2 SD below the mean of the population, were lean at birth and had a high rate of catch-up growth in weight and length during the first 3 and 6 mo, respectively. After the initial phases of rapid catch-up in weight and length, mean values of SD scores for weight and height remained relatively unchanged up until 2 y of age, thereafter increasing gradually up to 7 y of age, leaving 4/46 (8%) and 4/46 (8%) below -2 SD for weight and height, respectively. The pattern of changes in length/height and weight over time did not differ between those infants with abnormal BFC and those with normal BFC. The abnormal fetal aortic waveform was not related to rate of early catch-up growth or to height or weight at 7 y of age after adjustment for deviation in growth at birth. The magnitude of deficit in weight and length at birth was more predictive of subsequent growth.