Table 3.
Clinical, nutritional, and growth outcomes for VLBW infants with intestinal failure by infection status after diagnosis of NEC 1/
| No blood culture positive infections after diagnosis | 1 infection | ≥ 2 infections | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial hospitalization | N=31 | N=33 | N=14 |
| Hospital course | |||
| Days of hospitalization 2/ | |||
| Median (25th–75th percentile) | 172 (135–182) | 188 (157–216) | 260 (162–365) |
| Died before discharge, n (%) | 6 ( 19) | 5 ( 15) | 4 ( 29) |
| Clinical, n (%) | |||
| PDA | 20 ( 65) | 15 ( 45) | 11 ( 79) |
| RDS | 13/30 ( 43) | 19/32 ( 59) | 9/14 ( 64) |
| BPD 3/ | 21/29 ( 72) | 22/33 ( 67) | 10/13 ( 77) |
| ROP exam done | 27 (87) | 31 (94) | 14 (100) |
| ROP | 19/27 ( 70) | 21/31 ( 68) | 13/14 ( 93) |
| Nutritional | |||
| Days of parenteral nutrition** | |||
| Median (25th–75th percentile) | 90 (47–108) | 112 (91–116) | 115 (108–117) |
| Enteral feeds started, n (%) | 31 (100) | 33 (100) | 13 (93) |
| Age at first enteral feed (days)* | |||
| Median (25th–75th percentile) | 6 (3–12) | 4 (2–5.5) | 6 (3–22) |
| Full enteral feeds achieved, n (%)* | 27 (87) | 22 (67) | 7 (50) |
| Age when full feeds achieved (days) | |||
| Median (25th–75th percentile) | 25 (16–43) | 18 (13–36) | 14 (13–20) |
| Follow-up at 18–22 months (surviving infants with birth weight 401–1000 g) | N=14 | N=15 | N=7 |
| Growth | |||
| Weight <10th percentile | 6 ( 43) | 9 ( 60) | 5 ( 71) |
| Length <10th percentile | 7 ( 50) | 8 ( 53) | 6 ( 86) |
| Head circumference <10th percentile | 8 ( 57) | 8 ( 53) | 3 ( 43) |
PDA=patent ductus arteriosus; RDS=respiratory distress syndrome; BPD=bronchopulmonary dysplasia; ROP=retinopathy of prematurity.
1/
Diagnosis date for most infants was the date of NEC diagnosis (see Methods for details). The “after diagnosis” period was defined as >7 days after the diagnosis date.
2/
p=0.06 for a difference between the groups by the log rank test.
3/
Three infants who died before 36 weeks post-menstrual age could not be evaluated for BPD.
*
p ≤ 0.05,
**
p ≤ 0.01 for a difference between the groups by the Kruskal-Wallis test (continuous variables) or Fisher’s exact test (categorical variables).