Abstract: The perinatal mortality and morbidity of small for gestational age infant (SGA) were significantly higher than those of appropriate for gestational age (AGA). The etiology of SGA is diverse,  which is a mixture of physiological (short stature of parents) and pathological (maternal,  fetal and placental) factors. The structural or chromosomal abnormality of fetus is an important cause of SGA，5%20% of SGA is caused by genetic abnormality. Once a SGA infant is born,  clinicians should pay attention to the subsequent acute and chronic complications. The main acute complications show as perinatal asphyxia,  erythrocytosis,  hypoglycemia,  intrauterine infection,  hypothermia,  jaundice and feeding difficulties. Multiple system diseases,  such as growth restriction,  metabolic diseases,  even puberty abnormal development could be traced in the longterm followup. Longterm complications can lead to poor outcomes. Growth hormone treatment is safe and effective to improve height,  and reduce metabolic complications. Furthermore,  the management of SGA needs to summarize the opitical growth model in different types,  especiallly from Chinese real world study, which will be an important direction of SGA management.

Key words: infant, , small for gestational age;growth disorders;metabolic disease;growth hormone