ObjectiveTo monitor and analyze the physical development and nutritional status of premature infants aged 0-36 months under the management of the child health care system, to provide the basis for optimizing the systematic health care management of premature infants.

MethodsA total of 163 premature infants who were born from January 2014 to June 2017 and received the management service of child health care system within 3 years old were set as the observation group, and subdivided into the small for gestational age (SGA) group (n=15) and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) group (n=148).Another 170 full-term infants of the same age were selected as the control group.The growth and development, and incidence of nutritional diseases of preterm infants and full-term infants were compared.

ResultsThe body weight in observation group was lower than that in control group at 1 month, 6 months and 36 months of birth (P<0.05 to P<0.01), and the body height was significantly lower than that in control group at 1 month, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months and 36 months of birth (P<0.01).The weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ) in observation group was lower than that in control group at 1 month, 6 months and 36 months of birth (P<0.05 to P<0.01), and the height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) was significantly lower than that in control group at 1 month, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months and 36 months of birth (P<0.01).The WAZ in SGA group was lower than that in AGA group at 1 month to 18 months of birth (P<0.05 to P<0.01), and the HAZ was lower than that in AGA group at 1 month to 30 months of birth (P<0.05 to P<0.01).There was no significant difference in malnutrition rate and overweight rate between the observation group and the control group (P>0.05).The malnutrition rate of preterm infants in SGA group and AGA group decreased gradually with the increase of month age, but the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05).

ConclusionsThe trend of catch-up growth and development of preterm infants is good from 0 to 36 months of age, but it still lags behind that of full-term infants at 36 months of age, and 1 to 12 months of age is a growth peak.The catch-up growth rate of premature infants in SGA group was lower than that in AGA group, and 24 to 36 months of age is the second growth peak, and more attention should be paid to the guidance of child health care in this period.