Kidney Function Test Of Term Low Birth Weight Versus Term Normal Birth Weight Babies At One Year

Introduction: Kidney size is a crucial metric for both assessing children with functional disorders and determining appropriate organ growth. It is well recognized that early life factors, such as the mother's age and nutritional state during pregnancy, have an impact on later-life growth patterns, body composition, and the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases. The aim of this study was to compare kidney function test of low birth weight versus normal birth weight babies at one year. Methods: This case-control study was conducted at the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Community Pediatrics at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, Dhaka, from June 2009 to May 2010. Patients were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. 100 children were recruited in this study at one year of age from that hospital. Among them 50 were born at term with NBW and the rest 50 were born at term with LBW. Data were collected by developing a structured questionnaire and a statistical analysis was carried out by using the Statistical Package for Social ‘IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version XXII (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA)’. Result: It was observed that almost two-thirds (62.0%) of subjects belonged to age 12 months in term NBW and 28(56.0%) in term LBW. The mean age was 11.9±0.6 months in the term NBW and 12.2±0.7 months in the term LBW. More than half (58.0%) of subjects were male in term NBW and 22(44.0%) in term LBW. The majority (88.0%) of subjects came from urban areas in term NBW and 37(74.0%) in term LBW. The mean SBP was 86.6±8.0 mmHg in term NBW and 92.4±7.9 mmHg in term LBW. The mean DBP was 49.2±4.3 mmHg in term NBW and 52.2±4.7 mmHg in term LBW. The mean creatinine was 0.5±0.13 mg/dl in term NBW and 0.53±0.12 mg/dl in term LBW. The mean spot urine protein creatinine ratio was 0.3±0.06 in the term NBW and 0.4±0.07 in the term LBW. The mean GFR was 72.8±19.1 mL/min/1.73m2 in term NBW and 66.4±16.7 mL/min/1.73m2 in term LBW. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that blood pressure and spot urine protein creatinine ratio were significantly elevated in term LBW babies. The mean GFR was lesser in the term LBW babies compared to term NBW babies. Term LBW can lead to adverse effects on kidney size in children and act accordingly.