PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Williams, Sian A
AU  - Battin, Malcolm
AU  - Cavadino, Alana
AU  - Mirjalili, Ali
AU  - Pearce, Louise
AU  - Mulqueeney, Amy
AU  - Stott, Ngaire Susan
TI  - Reduced calf muscle growth in NICU graduates compared with typically developing term infants: 12-month longitudinal study of infant muscle growth
AID  - 10.1136/archdischild-2024-328402
DP  - 2025 Apr 24
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition
PG  - fetalneonatal-2024-328402
4099  - http://fn.bmj.com/content/early/2025/04/24/archdischild-2024-328402.short
4100  - http://fn.bmj.com/content/early/2025/04/24/archdischild-2024-328402.full
AB  - Objective To evaluate growth of the triceps surae muscle over the first 12 months of life in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates compared with typically developing (TD) infants.Design Longitudinal, prospective study.Participants Sixty-one infants, n=24 TD (15 male) and n=37 NICU graduates designated as intermediate-risk (NICU-IR; n=14, 9 male) or higher-risk (NICU-HR; n=23, 11 male) based on additional risk factors (including <28 weeks gestational age; <1000 g; neonatal encephalopathy; abnormal neuroimaging; small for gestational age).Outcome measures Sequential assessments at corrected ages 3, 6 and 12 months of muscle volume (freehand three-dimensional ultrasound) and gross motor development (Peabody Developmental Motor Scale-2, Gross Motor Quotient (GMQ)). Linear mixed models analysed muscle volume trajectories.Results Triceps surae growth trajectories differed significantly by group (p<0.001). Between 3 and 12 months, triceps surae increased on average by 18.1 cm3 (95% CI 16.1 to 20.2 cm3), 13.3 cm3 (10.6 to 16.0 cm3) and 12.5 cm3 (10.5 to 14.6 cm3) in TD, NICU-IR and NICU-HR infants, respectively. Soleus was significantly smaller at 6 and 12 months for both NICU groups, and lateral gastrocnemius was smaller at 12 months for NICU-HR (p<0.001). At 12 months of age, 8% of NICU infants and 30% of the TD infants were walking, the GMQ was >90 in all TD infants, and all but 5 (14%) NICU infants. Muscle volumes at 12 months were positively associated with both gestational age and birth weight.Conclusion Reduced soleus growth from 3 to 12 months led to a 25% smaller triceps surae muscle at 12 months in NICU graduates.Data are available on reasonable request. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.