Preterm infants are increasingly diagnosed as having "extrauterine growth restriction" (EUGR) or "postnatal growth failure" (PGF). Usually EUGR/PGF is diagnosed when weight is <10th percentile at either discharge or 36-40 weeks postmenstrual age. The reasons why the phrases EUGR/PGF are unhelpful include, they: (i) are not predictive of adverse outcome; (ii) are based only on weight without any consideration of head or length growth, proportionality, body composition, or genetic potential; (iii) ignore normal postnatal weight loss; (iv) are usually assessed prior to growth slowing of the reference fetus, around 36-40 weeks, and (v) are usually based on an arbitrary statistical growth percentile cut-off. Focus on EUGR/PGF prevalence may benefit with better attention to nutrition but may also harm with nutrition delivery above infants' actual needs. In this paper, we highlight challenges associated with such arbitrary cut-offs and opportunities for further refinement of understanding growth and nutritional needs of preterm neonates.

中文翻译：

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“宫外生长受限”和“产后生长障碍”是早产儿的误称。

越来越多的早产儿被诊断为“宫外生长受限”（EUGR）或“产后生长障碍”（PGF）。通常当出院时或月经后 36-40 周时体重 < 10% 时诊断出 EUGR/PGF。EUGR/PGF 短语无用的原因包括：(i) 不能预测不良结果；(ii) 仅基于体重，不考虑头部或长度的增长、比例、身体成分或遗传潜力；(iii) 忽略正常的产后体重减轻；(iv) 通常在参考胎儿生长放缓之前进行评估，大约 36-40 周，并且 (v) 通常基于任意的统计生长百分位截止值。关注 EUGR/PGF 的流行可能会因更好地关注营养而受益，但也可能会因高于婴儿实际需要的营养提供而受到损害。在本文中，我们强调了与此类任意截断值相关的挑战以及进一步完善对早产儿生长和营养需求的理解的机会。