Parenteral nutrition (PN) is recognized as a complex high-risk therapy. Its practice is highly variable and frequently suboptimal in pediatric patients. Optimizing care requires evidence, consensus-based guidelines, audits of practice, and standardized strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Feeding intolerance is a common condition among preterm infants owing to immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract. Enteral insulin appears to promote intestinal maturation. The insulin concentration in human milk declines rapidly post partum and insulin is absent in formula; therefore, recombinant human (rh) insulin for enteral administration as a supplement to human milk and formula may reduce feeding intolerance in preterm infants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe safety of parenteral nutrition (PN) remains a concern in preterm neonates, impacting clinical outcomes and health-care-resource use and costs. This cost-consequence analysis assessed national-level impacts of a 10-percentage point increase in use of industry-prepared three-chamber bags (3CBs) on clinical outcomes, healthcare resources, and hospital budgets across seven European countries. A ten-percentage-point 3CB use-increase model was developed for Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the UK.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPreterm infants are increasingly diagnosed as having "extrauterine growth restriction" (EUGR) or "postnatal growth failure" (PGF). Usually EUGR/PGF is diagnosed when weight is <10th percentile at either discharge or 36-40 weeks postmenstrual age. The reasons why the phrases EUGR/PGF are unhelpful include, they: (i) are not predictive of adverse outcome; (ii) are based only on weight without any consideration of head or length growth, proportionality, body composition, or genetic potential; (iii) ignore normal postnatal weight loss; (iv) are usually assessed prior to growth slowing of the reference fetus, around 36-40 weeks, and (v) are usually based on an arbitrary statistical growth percentile cut-off.
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