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Total energy expenditure, body composition and weight gain in moderately preterm and full‐term infants at term postconceptional age
Author(s) -
Olhager E,
Forsum E
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2003.tb00504.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gestational age , full term , body weight , weight gain , body water , pediatrics , birth weight , energy expenditure , lean body mass , zoology , pregnancy , genetics , biology
Aim : To assess total energy expenditure (TEE) and body composition, i.e. total body water (TBW) and adipose tissue volume (ATV), at term age in 8 healthy preterm infants, born between gestational weeks 30 and 33, and in 9 healthy full‐term newborns. Methods : Total and subcutaneous ATVs were assessed using magnetic resonance imaging, while TEE and TBW were estimated using doubly labelled water. Results : Total ATV was 272 ±21 and 261 ± 56 ml/kg body weight, while subcutaneous ATV was 88.9 ± 1.6 and 89.7 ± 2.0% of total ATV for preterm and full‐term infants, respectively. The corresponding figures for TBW (as percentage of body weight) were 67.4 ± 2.5 and 68.1 ± 4.1, respectively. A significant correlation between ATV/kg body weight and body weight was found for full‐term ( p < 0.0001) but not for preterm infants. TEE for preterm infants was 315 ± 20 kJ/kg body weight/24 h, which was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) than TEE for full‐term infants (254 ± 45 kJ/kg body weight/24 h). At the time of investigation preterm infants weighed significantly ( p < 0.05) less (540 g) than full‐term infants. After the time of investigation, weight gains of preterm and full‐term infants were 38 ± 12 and 24 ± 14 g/24 h, respectively. Conclusion : When compared to full‐term newborns, predominantly breastfed healthy preterm infants at term postconceptional age were significantly smaller, had a similar average proportion of body fat and showed catch‐up growth. Their higher TEE/kg body weight can be explained by a higher growth rate and possibly also by higher physical activity.