Very preterm infants admitted to a tertiary neonatal unit in central Vietnam showed poor postnatal growth

We aimed to evaluate the postnatal growth of very preterm infants.

This was a cross-sectional observational study of neonates born before 32 weeks of gestation and admitted to the neonatal unit at Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children, Vietnam, between 1 February 2020 and 30 September 2020. Morbidities, therapies, nutrition modalities and growth status were recorded from admission to discharge.

The 78 infants (51% female) were born at a median of 29 weeks and mean birth weight of 1247 grams. The mean weight gain velocity from regaining their birth weight until discharge was 12.7 ± 4.9 g/kg/d. At discharge, the Z-scores for weight, length, both weight and length and weight for length were lower than at birth in 94%, 67%, 64% and 95% of infants and the Delta Z-scores were less than -1 in 73%, 44%, 39% and 82%. Late-onset sepsis (LOS) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) were significantly associated with growth failure, with adjusted odds ratios of 3.6 and 20.1, respectively.

The high rate of poor growth among the very preterm infants in our study indicates the need to reduce LOS and BPD and ensure the availability of human milk fortifier, vitamin and mineral supplements.