Original ArticleGreater Early Gains in Fat-Free Mass, but Not Fat Mass, Are Associated with Improved Neurodevelopment at 1 Year Corrected Age for Prematurity in Very Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants
Section snippets
Methods
Fifty-five infants were recruited from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital from April 2011 to November 2012. Inclusion criteria included birth weight <1500 g and appropriate for gestational age status (between the 3rd and 97th percentile at birth on the Fenton Growth Curve).15 During the recruitment period, 176 infants weighing <1500 g at birth were admitted to the NICU. Of those excluded or declined, 10 were small for gestational
Results
Birth characteristics and data on hospital course are documented in Table I. There were differences noted between those who underwent developmental testing and those who did not. Those who underwent testing were born earlier (27.4 [2.6] vs 28.8 [1.9] weeks; P = .05) and remained inpatient longer (78.8 [31.2] vs 57.1 [21.8] days; P = .01; data not shown). Their growth velocities were similar in both FFM and FM gains (P = .09 and .6 respectively; data not shown).
The Figure represents gains in FFM
Discussion
Improved weight gain and linear growth are both associated with better neurodevelopmental outcomes in VLBW preterm infants.1, 2, 5, 6, 7 This study suggests that FFM, but not FM gains, before hospital discharge are associated even more strongly with improved cognitive and motor outcomes in VLBW preterm infants than weight gain alone. This knowledge is potentially important in the management of nutrition in preterm infants as more research becomes available documenting altered body composition
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Supported by the University of Minnesota Foundation (Amplatz Scholar Award). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.