Table 1. Demographic and clinical factors for participating ELBW infants (n = 50).
| Factor | Value |
|---|---|
| Duration of NICU days; median (IQR) | 25.7 (12.5–41.8) |
| Number of patients/ Duration of artificial lung ventilation (days); median (IQR) | 48/ 5.8 (3.4–17.5) |
| Number of patients in hospital ward A | 28 |
| Number of patients born with caesarean section | 22 |
| GA (weeks); mean (SD) | 26.64 (0.32) |
| BW (g) mean (SD) | 886.64 (28.27) |
| Number of male patients | 26 |
| Number of patients receiving empiric antibiotic treatment with penicillin | 25 |
| Duration of empiric antibiotic treatment in days; median (IQR) | 3 (0.5–14.5) |
| Number of patients receiving broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment: | 37 |
| β-lactam + betalactamase inhibitors | 23 |
| III ja IV generation cephalosporines | 10 |
| carbapenems | 6 |
| Starting day of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment; median (IQR) | 7 (0–25) |
| Duration of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment in days; median (IQR) | 11.5 (0–38.8) |
| Number of patients on following feeding regimen at day 7*: | |
| TPN | 12 |
| Breast milk containing regimen | 17 |
| Formula | 21 |
| Mean % (range) of breast milk in breast milk containing regimen | 81.4 (25–100) |
| Starting day of enteral feeding regimen; median (IQR) | 3 (1–7) |
| Starting day of total enteral feeding; median (IQR) | 17 (14–22) |
| Number of participants suffering from sepsis: | 24 |
| Early onset sepsis | 2 |
| Late onset sepsis | 22 |
| Number of NEC II, III patients | 7 |
| Number of patients who died in hospital | 2 |
Feeding regimen of ELBW infants was documented on Day 7 and categorized into three groups based on the route and character of the feeds as follows: (1) TPN, only parenteral feeding or including enteral feeds providing calories less than 10% of daily total; (2) breast milk containing regimen, breast milk constituting at least 11% of enteral feeds (the actual proportion of breast milk ranged from 12 to 100%); and (3) formula feeding, formula constituting more than 89% of enteral feeds. In case of breast milk containing regimen only biological mother’s fresh or frozen breast milk was used; pasteurization or donor milk were not available. For formula feeding a ready-made liquid preterm formula Nenatal by Nutricia providing 82 Kcal/100 ml was used. Fortification was started only when enteral volume of 100 ml/kg was reached. TPN was started with glucose (4–6 g/kg/d) and amino acids (1 g/kg/d) within the first hours of life and increased by 2 g/kg/d for glucose and 1 g/kg/d for aminoacids as tolerated. Lipids (0.5–1 g/kg/d) were started on the second day of life and advanced by 0.5–1 g/kg/d as tolerated.