Evaluation of the nutritional status at 40 weeks corrected gestational age in a cohort of very low birth weight infants

Abstract

To evaluate the nutritional status at term of a cohort of newborn babies with birth weights of less than 1,500 g and to correlate this with nutritional practices and clinical variables. Very low birth weight infants admitted to eight neonatal intensive care units from November 1999 to April 2000 were studied prospectively. The units were defined as Type I if they employed aggressive nutritional support techniques and Type II if other nutritional practices were used. Babies were defined as malnourished if their z-score for weight was less than or equal to -2 on the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System growth curves. Data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression and logistic regression. The study was approved by the Committee for Ethics in Research. Sixty-three percent (126/200) of the study population were classified as being malnourished at term. Weight at term (corrected gestational age) showed a direct correlation with birth weight, but an indirect correlation with the length of stay, gestational age at birth, time to regain birth weight and CRIB score (p < 0.05). Small for gestational age infants had a 12.19 times greater chance of being malnourished at term. Being born at a Type I unit reduced the risk of malnutrition at term by 2.17 times, male sex reduced this risk by 0.4 times and achieving total enteral nutrition by the 10th day of life reduced it by 1.97 times (p < 0.03). The most effective means of preventing babies being malnourished at term is by encouraging perinatal practices aimed at preventing restricted intrauterine growth, in addition to giving priority to aggressive nutritional management.