Efficacy of Docosahexaenoic Acid for the Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

ABSTRACT: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an inflammatory bowel disease and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. In this study, a randomized double-blind parallel-group (1:1) trial was carried out in two neonatal intensive care units of two tertiary hospitals. Two hundred and twenty-five preterm newborns with an expected functional gastrointestinal tract were recruited and received an enteral dose of 75 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)/kg body weight or high-oleic sunflower oil daily for 14 days from the first enteral feed after birth. Confirmed NEC was evaluated with Bell's scale from stage ≥ IIa. Two hundred and fourteen randomized infants were analyzed in terms of the intent-to-treat (DHA-group: n = 105; control-group: n = 109); data for two hundred infants were analy

SUBMITTER: Bernabe-Garcia M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7922869 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature