Impact of introducing a standardized nutrition protocol on very premature infants' growth and morbidity.

Background Inappropriate nutritional intake in premature infants may be responsible for postnatal growth restriction (PGR) and adverse long-term outcomes. Objective We evaluated the impact of an updated nutrition protocol on very premature infants’ longitudinal growth and morbidity, and secondly the compliance to this new protocol. Design All infants born between 26–32 weeks gestation (GA) were studied retrospectively during two 6-month periods before (group 1) and after (group 2) the introduction of an optimized nutrition protocol, in a longitudinal comparative analysis. Results 158 infants were included; 72 before and 86 after the introduction of the protocol (Group 1: (mean±SD) birthweight (BW) 1154±276 g, GA 29.0±1.4 weeks; Group 2: BW 1215±332 g, GA 28.9±1.7 weeks). We observed growth improvement in Group 2 more pronounced in males (weight z-score) at D42 (−1.688±0.758 vs. −1.370±0.762, p = 0.045), D49 (−1.696±0.776 vs. −1.370±0.718, p = 0.051), D56 (−1.748±0.855 vs. −1.392±0.737, p = 0.072), D63 (−1.885±0.832 vs. −1.336±0.779 p = 0.016), and D70 (−2.001±0.747 vs. −1.228±0.765 p = 0.004). There was no difference in females or in morbidities between the groups. We observed low compliance to the protocol in both groups: similar energy intake but higher lipid intake in Group 1 and higher protein intake in Group 2. Conclusion The quality of nutritional care with a strictly-defined protocol may significantly improve weight gain for very preterm infants. As compliance remained low, an educational reinforcement is needed to prevent PGR. Clinical trial registration This retrospective study was registered by ClinicalTrials.gov under number NCT03217045, and by the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertes) under study number R2015-1 for the Maternity of the CHRU of Nancy.