Enteral glutamine supplementation for very-low-birth-weight infants decreases hospital costs.
BACKGROUND
There is growing evidence that glutamine may be a conditionally essential amino acid for critically ill patients, including preterm infants cared for in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). In a randomized study of 68 very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants, we found evidence of lower morbidity in a group fed glutamine-supplemented preterm infant formula from postnatal day 3 to day 30 than in a group fed a standard formula. We report here the effects of the glutamine supplementation on hospital costs in these infants.


METHODS
The costs were analyzed by log-rank tests and Kaplan-Meier plots.


RESULTS
The median costs for hospitalization, radiology, pharmacy, laboratory, and the NICU, and the median number of utilization units were reduced with glutamine supplementation.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides the first evidence for decreased hospital costs in VLBW neonates who receive enteral glutamine supplementation.
Dallas
M J
MJ
Clinical Research Center, University of Florida, Gainesville 32610, USA.
Bowling
D
D
Roig
J C
JC
Auestad
N
N
Neu
J
J
D001724:Birth Weight; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D005973:Glutamine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D007225:Infant Food / Q000191:economics*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000191:economics*; D007902:Length of Stay
D005973:Glutamine