Chicago - Girls born tiny and premature are more likely than boys to catch up with their peers in growth by age 20, a study has found, but the difference might actually turn out to favour the boys.
Studies have linked unusually rapid growth in childhood with an increased risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes later in life. Most of the catch-up growth in girls studied appeared to occur from ages eight through to 20. While premature boys were half as likely as normal-weight boys to be obese, obesity rates were similar among premature and normal-weight girls.
"On the surface, it appears that the male subjects might be at a disadvantage," says Dr Maureen Hack, "but we are more concerned about the future health of the very low birthweight females."
The research involved 103 boys and 92 girls born in the late 1970s in Cleveland, Ohio. The study appears in the July issue of Paediatrics. - Sapa-AP