Background & Aims: Tracking of body mass index (BMI) helps to plan need based interventions to improve and predict health outcome of individuals from neonatal period to adulthood. Owing to non-availability of auxological information on Indian babies this presentation, aims to study pattern of BMI of full-term symmetric and asymmetric small for gestational age (SGA) infants.

Material & Methods: BMI amongst 100 symmetric and 100 asymmetric full-term SGA infants born to parents inhabiting North-western India was studied mixed-longitudinally. One hundred full-term appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants served as controls. Weight and length of each infant was measured at birth, 1, 3, 6, 9 & 12 months in the Growth Laboratory/Clinic of Institute. Mean(SD) BMI (weight(kg)/length(m2) was calculated. Inter-group, intra-group, gender differences were evaluated using unpaired t-test.

Results: BMI amongst all infants demonstrated a regular increase upto 6 months whereafter, it depicted a stabilized trend. In general, BMI in symmetric male SGA babies measured significantly (p≤0.01) more than asymmetric infants. BMI measured higher in female symmetric SGA infants, between 3 to 6 months. Male symmetric SGA and AGA infants had higher BMI than the females. While, it measured lesser in asymmetric SGA male infants than females, gender differences became significant during second half of infancy.

Conclusion: Substantially, lower placement of BMI curves of SGA infants of the two types and sexes as compared to AGA, normal Indian and Western infants reveal a compromised auxological/nutritional state of symmetric and asymmetric SGA infants, which did not improve during first year of their life.