Comparison of the intrauterine growth curve of the city of São Paulo with the growth curve of a suburb low socioeconomic level population

Introduction: The intrauterine growth curves rate newborns according to their intrauterine nutrition and constitute a health indicator able to predict morbimortality. Sociodemographic variations and access to medical equipment have been associated with the newborn weight variation.
Objectives: To compare the growth curves from a population at a large city suburban hospital with those of the city of São Paulo, the São Paulo State capital, Brazil.
Methods:  At the Hospital do Grajaú, that serves the high pregnancy risk population lacking health facilities, of low education level, less number of prenatal visits and great morbidity, a growth curve was built for the newborns, as the Hospital is provided with updated equipment and personnel.  The curve was built from the database available containing information on live births during the 2003-2007 period and totaling 9,952 newborns and taking their weight at birth and gestational age as parameters. The 3%, 10%, 50% and 90% figures of the Grajaú curve were assigned to those of the city of São Paulo curve.
Results: The figures were significantly similar to those of the São Paulo percentiles, as shown by the mean deviation (z score) calculation, not withstanding the rates for prematurity, low weight, teenager mothers and lack of prenatal visits being higher among the Grajaú population compared to that of the city as a whole.
Conclusion: The city of São Paulo curve showed to be appropriate for the suburb population, not withstanding the existing differences.