The Type of Feeding at Discharge of Very Preterm Infants: Neonatal Intensive Care Units Policies and Practices Make a Difference
Rodrigues C, Severo M, Zeitlin J, Barros H, Portuguese EPICE (Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe) Network.
Breastfeed Med. (2017)
The aim was to assess the influence of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) on feeding practices at discharge of Portuguese very preterm infants.
We analyzed data from 580 very preterm infants (<32 gestational weeks) discharged home from NICUs of two Portuguese regions and enrolled during 2011-2012 in Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe population-based cohort. Maternal and infant characteristics were abstracted from medical records, and heads of NICUs provided the units characteristics. Feeding at discharge was classified as exclusive formula, exclusive breast milk or mixed, and differences among NICUs were obtained by comparison with pooled geometric mean odds of all NICUs, using multinomial logistic regression. Median odds ratios (MOR) were calculated to quantify variability among NICUs using multilevel logistic regression.