Table 4.
Antenatal antibiotics and effect of probiotics.
| Clinical characteristics | No antibiotics without probiotics | No antibiotics with probiotics | p | Antenatal antibiotics only without probiotics | Antenatal antibiotics only with probiotics | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of infants | 295 | 628 | 103 | 293 | ||
| Gestational age (weeks) | 31.0 (1.3) | 30.4 (1.5) | <0.001 | 30.7 (1.4) | 29.8 (1.7) | <0.001 |
| Body weight at birth (g) z-score | 1277 (190) −0.7/−0.77 (0.67) | 1189 (221) −0.67/−0.74 (0.74) | <0.001 0.7 | 1300 (175) −0.49/−0.53, (0.67) | 1228 (224) −0.3/−0.28, (0.76) | 0.001 0.02 |
| Head circum-ference at birth (cm) z-score | 27.8 (1.5) −0.5/−0.47 (0.69) | 27.1 (1.7) −0.55/−0.49, (0.75) | <0.001 0.6 | 27.8 (1.4) −0.36/−0.37, (0.61) | 27.0 (1.7) −0.36/−0.29, (0.75) | <0.001 0.8 |
| Body length at birth (cm) z-score | 39.3 (3.4) −0.48/−0.48, (0.74) | 38.2 (2.7) −0.51/−0.5, (0.79) | <0.001 0.4 | 39.3 (2.2) −0.32/−0.24, (0.71) | 38.3 (2.8) −0.22/−0.21, (0.72) | 0.001 0.3 |
| Duration of stay (days) | 45 (13) | 49 (16) | 0.001 | 45 (13) | 49 (15) | 0.07 |
| Weight gain (g/d) | 26.2 (6.6) | 24.9 (57.1) | 0.01 | 26.1 (4.3) | 25.3 (14) | 0.001 |
| Growth velocity head (mm/d) | 1.10 (0.3) | 1.09 (0.3) | 0.8 | 1.08 (0.3) | 1.09 (0.3) | 0.8 |
| Growth velocity length (mm/d) | 1.49 (0.6) | 1.45 (0.5) | 0.3 | 1.34 (0.5) | 1.46 (0.6) | 0.08 |
Legend: Continuous variables are shown as mean (SD); z-scores are shown as mean/median (SD). Categorical variables are shown as percent. p-values were derived from Fisher’s exact test or Mann-Whitney-U test if indicated (*), SGA, small for gestational age (<10th percentile of birth weight adjusted to gestational age). Growth velocity and weight gain were calculated by differences between parameters at birth and respective measures at discharge/number of days (duration of stay).