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NICU infants who require a feeding gastrostomy for discharge
Alison Chapman1, Katherine George2, Anbesaw Selassie3
1Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital, 10 McClennan Banks Drive, MSC 915, Charleston, SC 29425-9150, USA..
Objective:
To determine population data for infants receiving a gastrostomy tube (GT) in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to better understand the premature infant population at risk for GT prior to discharge.
Study Design:
We identified all NICU infants born 2015-2016 who received a GT and determined the birth gestational age below which GTs were placed due to oral feeding failure secondary to prematurity-related comorbidities, rather than anomalies or other reasons. Aggregate data were used to compare infants born <30 weeks (w) gestation who received a GT with those who did not.
Results:
GTs were placed in 117 infants. More than half of the NICU patients who receive GTs were actually >32 weeks gestation; a cut-off of <30w was a good identifier for those who failed achieving full oral feeds due to prematurity-related problems. Infants born <30w (n = 282) not receiving GTs were discharged at a significantly lower postmenstrual age (36w) and lower weight (2.3 kg) compared with infants who received a GT (49w, 5 kg).
Conclusions:
The population of premature infants born <30w gestation constitute the population of infants at risk for a GT based solely on prematurity.
Levels Of Evidence:
III.
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