Growth status of children and adolescents born small for gestational age at full term in Korea: data from the KNHANES-V.

Objectives Small for gestational age (SGA) status is known to show stunted growth and results in short stature in adults. The aim of this study was to describe the current short stature in subjects born SGA in Korea and to assess catch-up growth (CUG) or non-CUG. Methods We analyzed data from 3,524 subjects (1,831 male) aged 1-18 years who were born as full-term singletons and who participated in the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2011). Results The prevalence of SGA was 13.4% (n=471). Subjects born SGA had fathers with shorter height, shorter mother's height, and mid-parental height than non-SGA subjects (p<0.05 for all). The odds ratios (ORs) for SGA birth of a short statured father and a short statured mother were 2.00 (95% CI; 1.15-3.47) and 2.11 (95% CI; 1.30-3.40), respectively. Among 471 SGA subjects, 28 subjects (5.9%) were non-CUG, which made up 36.4% of all subjects with short stature. The CUG subjects had a higher father's height, mother's height, mid-parental height, and current BMI (p<0.05 for all). The non-CUG subjects had a higher percentage of fathers being near-short stature (height<10th percentile; 33.3 vs. 12.7%; p=0.008) and mothers being near-short stature (39.3 vs. 13.9%; p<0.001). Conclusion Korean subjects born SGA had a higher risk of current short stature. This population-based nationwide survey also showed that both father's and mother's short stature are risk factors of not only SGA birth but also non-CUG in their children.