TITLE:
Effect of Aggressive Early High-Dose Intravenous Amino Acid Infusion and Early Trophic Enteral Nutrition on Very Low Birth Weight Infants
AUTHORS:
Man-Yau Ho, Yu-Hsuan Yen, Hsiang-Yin Chen, Shu-Chen Chien, Mao-Chih Hsieh, Yao-Shun Yang
KEYWORDS:
Early Nutrition; Trophic Enteral Feeding; Very Low Birth Weight; Preterm Infant
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.3 No.11,
November
26,
2012
ABSTRACT: Objective: Very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm infants are at risk of growth delay if they do not receive adequate nutritional support. This study evaluated the effect of aggressive early high-dose amino acid infusion plus early enteral trophic feeding on growth in VLBW infants within the first day of life. Study Design: The effect of a high-dose 3 g amino acid (HAA)/kg/d regimen beginning on the first day of life was compared with that of low-dose amino acid (LAA) supplementation at a dose of 0.5 or 1.0 g/kg/d. The primary outcome measures were the days of regained birth weight and achieved full enteral feeding. Result: Compared with the 19 infants in the LAA group, the 17 infants in the HAA group achieved significantly earlier full enteral feeding (7.8 ± 3.6 vs. 15.2 ± 8.9, p = 0.003) and regained birth weight (13.3 ± 3.8 vs. 17.5 ± 7.9, p = 0.047). In addition, shorter parenteral nutrition time was achieved by HAA administration (p Conclusion: Aggressive early simultaneous amino acid administration plus enteral feeding during the first few days of life for preterm infants was associated with improved weight gain and earlier full enteral feeding.