Forthcoming Issue Vol 19 No. 3 The introduction of multi-strain probiotics to preterm infants in a regional hospital: an observational study
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Abstract
Background: Worldwide 1 in 10 infants are born preterm. Late onset sepsis (LOS) and necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) are important causes of mortality and morbidity in this vulnerable group. Probiotics may help to decrease the incidence of these conditions, although controversies remain.
Objectives: To describe the implementation of multi-strain probiotics at George Hospital (GH) to infants born weighing 800-1200g, and determine the incidence of NEC, LOS and mortality in this group. Also, to compare with previous years when there were no probiotics or single strain probiotics.
Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted on the infants who received probiotics at GH between February 2019 and July 2020. The outcomes such as mortality, NEC and LOS were collected. These data were compared to previous time periods.
Results: Seventy-seven infants were included. All infants who qualified for probiotics received them. They had a median weight of 1000g, IQR (900-1120g) and a median gestation of 30 weeks, IQR (28-31 weeks). All infants received breastmilk. A total of eleven (14.3%) had positive blood cultures which were predominately gram-negative organisms and there were no cultures of probiotic organisms. Infants with birth weights less than 1kg contributed 75% of the sepsis episodes. There were seven (9%) deaths of which three were before 72 hours of life. Four of the deaths were due to LOS. There were no cases of NEC during this time period. Compared with previous time periods, there were similar rates of LOS, but a reduction of NEC.
Conclusion: The introduction of probiotics to a regional hospital is possible. Less NEC was observed during when multi-strained probiotics was used.
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