Growth and Development Longitudinal Follow-Up

During the first years of life when energy needs are high, growth serves as an objective measure of children's well-being. Failure-to-thrive (FTT) occurs when infants' rate of weight gain is below expectations based on age and gender-specific growth charts. The proposed randomized controlled trial evaluates whether a home-based intervention delivered by community health workers is effective in altering patterns of children's growth and development.

Infants were recruited from pediatric primary care clinics serving low-income, urban communities from 1988 through 1993. Eligibility criteria included age < 25 months, at least 35 weeks gestational age and appropriate birth weight for gestational age, and no congenital problems, disabilities, or chronic illnesses.

Children in the FTT group had to meet one of two criteria using age and gender-specific National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth charts: sustained weight-for-age below the 5th percentile, weight-for-length below the 10th percentile or weight for age crossing two major centiles and falling below the 25th percentile. All infants were examined by a pediatrician, who also reviewed their medical charts to ensure that they met criteria for FTT and there were no known syndromes or obvious major organ system dysfunctions, such as congenital heart disease, to account for the growth failure of the infants in the FTT group.

Caregivers were invited to participate in a longitudinal research project, using consent procedures approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Over 90% of eligible caregivers agreed and participated in an initial evaluation that included measures of growth, standardized developmental assessments, and a 60-minute interview of questionnaires on demographics, children's behavior, and maternal and family functioning. Developmental assessments were administered by psychology graduate students, supervised by a pediatric psychologist. A home visit was scheduled within two weeks of the initial evaluation.

Children with FTT were treated in an interdisciplinary clinic. Based on a randomization procedure, stratified by race, gender, and infant age to ensure equivalence across groups, children with FTT were randomized to receive either the clinical intervention plus home intervention (FTT-HI) or the clinical intervention only (FTT-CO).