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Energy expenditure in infants weaned from a convective incubator

Shaul Dollberg1, Francis B Mimouni, Valentin Weintraub

  • 1Department of Neonatology, Lis Maternity Hospital, Tel Aviv-Sourasky Medical Center, and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

American Journal of Perinatology
|July 3, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Preterm infants weaning from incubators increase their resting metabolic rate to maintain body temperature. This metabolic adjustment is crucial for successful weaning and thermal stability in these vulnerable infants.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatalogy
  • Pediatric Metabolism
  • Thermoregulation in Infants

Background:

  • Preterm infants often require heated environments like incubators for survival.
  • Some infants experience hypothermia after incubator weaning, necessitating further thermal support.
  • Understanding metabolic responses to incubator weaning is vital for optimizing infant care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if preterm infants increase their resting metabolic rate upon weaning from an incubator.
  • To quantify the changes in energy expenditure following incubator weaning in small preterm infants.

Main Methods:

  • Resting energy expenditure was measured in thermally stable preterm infants (>=1600g) before and at several time points after incubator weaning.
  • Data analysis involved a two-way analysis of variance for repeated measures.
  • The study included sixteen infants with a mean birthweight of 1270g and gestational age of 31 weeks.

Main Results:

  • A significant increase in energy expenditure was observed after incubator weaning.
  • Energy expenditure rose from 95.0 +/- 21.9 kcal/d in the incubator to a peak of 111.9 +/- 10.5 kcal/d at 30 hours post-weaning.
  • This indicates that weaning from a convective incubator elevates the metabolic rate in very low birth weight infants.

Conclusions:

  • Incubator weaning stimulates an increase in metabolic rate in preterm infants.
  • The capacity of these infants to enhance their metabolic rate may be a key factor in successful weaning.
  • Further research could explore the implications of metabolic rate changes on weaning outcomes.

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