Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to provide a database for the craniofacial measurements of newborn infants in Aydın, Turkey as well as to investigate the relation between craniofacial measurements and leptin/IGF-1 levels.
MATERIALS and METHODS: A total of 152 healthy full-term infants (78 males, 74 females) were taken into study, which 23 male ve 16 female infants were weighting less than 3000 gr. The anthropometric measurements applied included head circumference, head length (g-op), head width (eu-eu), forehead width (ft-ft), head height (v-n), outer canthal distance (ex-ex), intercanthal distance (en-en), palpebral fissure length (en-ex), nasal width (al-al), intercommissural distance (ch-ch), facial height (n-gn), forehead height (n-tr), facial width (zy-zy), ear length (sa-sba). Also, leptin and IGF-1 levels were determined in umblical cord blood.
RESULTS: Significant differences between the sexes, were found only in the length of ear and leptin results (p<0.05). In comparison of higher and lower than 3000 gr newborn infants, significant differences were observed in height, weight, head circumference, head length (g-op), head height (vn), head width (eu-eu), face width (ft -ft), face height (n-gn), face width (zy-zy) measurements. In higher than 3000 gr newborn infants, while there were significant differences between the sexes in terms of head width, forehead width, facial width and leptin levels, but there was no difference for IGF-1 levels. Leptin levels were higher in girls in the same group. No parameters were significant between the sexes in lower than 3000 gr newborn infants. A correlation was observed between leptin/IGF-1 levels and craniofacial measurements in higher and lower than 3000 gr groups.
CONCLUSION: This study may establish the full-term newborn infants' standard of craniofacial parameters for newborn babies in Aydın, potentially enabling early syndromal diagnosis. We believe that these results could be a valuable data in the future because it shows that leptin and IGF-1 may have an effect on the craniofacial measurements.
