Body composition in infants with chronic lung disease after treatment with dexamethasone.
The aim of this study was to study the effect of chronic lung disease (CLD) and dexamethasone treatment on body composition in preterm infants (birthweight < 1500 g). In addition, anthropometric measurement of body composition were compared with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Fourteen preterm infants with CLD and a comparison group of 18 preterm infants were studied until 3 mo corrected age. CLD infants received approximately 20 kcal kg-1 per day extra nutritional intake during dexamethasone treatment until term. At term no differences were found between CLD and no CLD infants for percentage bone mass (1.4 +/- 0.2 vs 1.4 +/- 0.1%), fat mass (18.7 +/- 4.5 vs 17.4 +/- 3.5%), lean body mass (79.9 +/- 4.6 vs 81.2 +/- 3.5%) or bone mineral density (0.15 +/- 0.02 vs 0.15 +/- 0.01%). At 3 mo corrected age both groups were also similar for bone mass (1.6 +/- 0.1 vs 1.6 +/- 0.2%), fat mass (22.6 +/- 5.5 vs 24.5 +/- 5.7%), lean body mass (75.8 +/- 5.7 vs 74.0 +/- 5.8%) and bone mineral density (0.20 +/- 0.02 vs 0.20 +/- 0.01%). All anthropometric measurements showed a high correlation with body composition. However, calculated fat mass was 56.7 +/- 8.8% lower than fat mass measured with DXA.


CONCLUSIONS
Body composition at term and 3 mo corrected age in preterm infants treated with dexamethasone for CLD, who received extra caloric intake until term, did not differ from that in preterm infants without CLD.
Department of Pediatrics, VU University Medical Center, PO Box 7057, NL-1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Roel.Bolt@VUmc.nl
R J
RJ
Bolt
M M
MM
van Weissenbruch
J C
JC
Roos
H A
HA
Delemarre-van de Waal
A
A
Cranendonk
H N
HN
Lafeber
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001823:Body Composition / Q000187:drug effects*; D015519:Bone Density / Q000187:drug effects; D001997:Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006128:Growth / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D016014:Linear Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D005938:Glucocorticoids; D003907:Dexamethasone