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Very low birth weight preterm infants are at risk for osteopenia. To evaluate long-term growth and bone mineralization in preterm infants, researchers evaluated 20 healthy white children (8 boys; age range, 5–9 years) who were born preterm with a birth weight <1.5 kg. Height and weight were compared with the height and weight database from the 1996 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity. Bone-mineral content and density at the lumbar spine and distal radius were compared with measurements from a convenience sample of 15 term children who were matched by current weight.
Boys and girls in the preterm group had significantly lower weight and body-mass index than NHANES reference data, b…