Double-blinded randomized controlled trial of optimizing nutrition in preterm very low birth weight infants: Bayley scores at 18-38 months of age.

BACKGROUND

Human milk supplementation for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can be based on optimized nutrition (feeding adjustments based on growth and measurements of serum nutrients) or individualized nutrition (measurements of macronutrients in mother's own milk).

OBJECTIVE

To compare Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III) at 18-38mo adjusted age in infants who had been randomly allocated to individualized+optimized nutrition (experimental group) vs optimized nutrition alone (control) in the NICU.

METHODS

Double-blinded randomized controlled trial in neonates <29wks gestational age (GA) and those <34wks GA and small for GA.

RESULTS

Bayley scores were assessed in 91/114 (80%) infants. The two study groups had similar frequencies of low cognitive, motor and language Bayley scores and similar age-adjusted Bayley scores in bivariate and multivariate analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

The type of human milk supplementation provided had no significant effect on Bayley scores assessed at 18-38mo.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: This randomized controlled trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02372136.