Abstract
Very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants are vulnerable to growth restriction after discharge due to cumulative protein and energy deficits during their hospital stay and early post-discharge period. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of the preterm infant, post-discharge nutrition (PIN) program to reduce post-discharge growth restriction in Thai VLBW preterm infants. A prospective, non-randomized interventional cohort study was undertaken to assess the growth of 22 VLBW preterm infants who received the PIN program and compared them with 22 VLBW preterm infants who received conventional nutrition services. Infant’s growth was recorded monthly until the infants reached six months’ corrected age (6-moCA). Intervention infants had significantly greater body weights (p = 0.013) and head circumferences (p = 0.009). Also, a greater proportion of the intervention group recovered their weight to the standard weight at 4-moCA (p = 0.027) and at 6-moCA (p = 0.007) and their head circumference to the standard head circumference at 6-moCA (p = 0.004) compared to their historical comparison counterparts. Enlistment in the PIN program thus resulted in significantly reduced post-discharge growth restriction in VLBW preterm infants. Further research on longer term effects of the program on infant’s growth and development is warranted.
Highlights
Very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants are those born before 37 weeks gestation weighing less than 1500 g, and they comprise between 4% and 8% of neonatal live-births [1,2]
One mL of blood sample was taken at blood drawing unit from all infants and hematocrit (Hct), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were examined in order to monitor iron deficiency anemia [37], bone health [38], and nutritional status, including sufficiency of protein
Our findings were consistent with previous studies [4,8,9,44,45] and the present study suggested a difficulty of preventing small for gestational age (SGA) among VLBW preterm infants during hospital admission
Summary
Very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants are those born before 37 weeks gestation weighing less than 1500 g, and they comprise between 4% and 8% of neonatal live-births [1,2]. A recent cohort study estimated that a prevalence of being small for gestational age (SGA) among VLBW infants (birth weight 750–1500 g) born between 2005 and 2012 to be 44.4%–58.8% at discharge [6]. This may be caused by several health problems such. The historical group did not conduct a regular biochemical blood tests after discharge at the follow-up clinic visit
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