title: Postnatal nutrition in extremely low birth weight infants and its impact on growth until the age of 6 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the impact of postnatal nutrition on long-term growth in extremely low birth weight infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of postnatal nutrition and observational study of growth in 52 ELBW infants until the age of six.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Changes (Δ) in weight and length standard deviation scores (SDS) between birth to term correlated with protein intake (r(w) = 0.36; p = 0.009; r(L) = 0.35; p = 0.01), whereas ΔHC correlated with lipid intake (r(HC) = 0.38; p = 0.005). Analysis of various intervals (0-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-11 weeks) only showed significant impact on growth for energy (r = 0.3; p < 0.05) and lipids (r = 0.23; p < 0.05) at 6-8 weeks. No significant correlations were found between postnatal nutritional parameters and long-term growth. However, postnatal growth restraint was negatively associated with length SDS (r = -0.34; p = 0.015) and body mass index SDS (r = -0.34; p = 0.018) at the age of six. Infants with postnatal growth restraint (n = 25) caught up more in length (+1.78 SDS) than in weight (+0.43 SDS), whereas small for gestational age infants (n = 8) caught up more in weight (+1.35 SDS) than in length (+1.07 SDS). This difference remained significant at the age of six.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although no direct association between postnatal nutrition and long-term growth was found, weight at discharge was a strong predictor for long-term growth.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Endocrinology Division, Children's Hospital, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peiler
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Woelfle
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stutte
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schreiner
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bartmann
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gohlke
mesh_terms: D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight / Q000254:growth & development*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Extremely low birth weight; growth; nutrition; small for gestational age