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Vitamin A supplementation in extremely low-birth-weight infants: subgroup analysis in small-for-gestational-age

Vedang A Londhe1, Tracy L Nolen, Abhik Das

  • 1Division of Neonatology and Developmental Biology, Department of Pediatrics, Neonatal Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.

American Journal of Perinatology
|January 19, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Vitamin A supplementation did not show a greater benefit for small-for-gestational-age (SGA) preterm infants compared to appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants in reducing the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) or death.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatology
  • Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
  • Nutritional Science

Background:

  • Preterm infants with intrauterine growth restriction (small-for-gestational-age, SGA) face higher risks of respiratory distress syndrome and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).
  • Previous research indicated vitamin A supplementation may reduce BPD risk in extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW) preterm infants requiring respiratory support.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if vitamin A supplementation offers a greater reduction in BPD or death risk for premature SGA infants compared to AGA infants.
  • To analyze a subgroup of SGA infants from a larger randomized clinical trial.

Main Methods:

  • Subgroup analysis of SGA infants from a randomized clinical trial.
  • Comparison of vitamin A supplementation effects on BPD or death risk between SGA and AGA ELBW infants requiring early respiratory support.

Main Results:

  • Vitamin A increased serum retinol in AGA ELBW infants but not in SGA ELBW infants.
  • The analysis lacked sufficient statistical power due to a limited number of SGA infants.

Conclusions:

  • Current data do not support the hypothesis that vitamin A supplementation provides a greater benefit for preterm SGA infants in reducing BPD or death risk compared to preterm AGA infants.
  • Further research with larger sample sizes of SGA infants is needed.
Abstract

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