Published articles

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.

Prevalence and duration of breast milk feeding in very preterm infants: A 3-year follow-up study and a systematic literature review
Rodrigues C, Teixeira R, Fonseca MJ, Zeitlin J, Barros H, Portuguese EPICE (Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe) Network.
Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. (2018)

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breast milk feeding until 6 months and continuing up to 2 years of age; little is known about whether very preterm infants are fed in accordance with these recommendations. We aimed to describe the prevalence and duration of breast milk feeding in very preterm children and to systematically review internationally published data.

We evaluated breast milk feeding initiation and duration in very preterm children born in 2 Portuguese regions (2011-2012) enrolled in the EPICE cohort and followed-up to the age of 3 (n = 466). We searched PubMed from inception to January 2017 to identify original studies reporting the prevalence and/or duration of breast milk feeding in very preterm children.

Variability in Very Preterm Stillbirth and In-Hospital Mortality Across Europe
Elizabeth S. Draper, Bradley N. Manktelow, Marina Cuttini, Rolf F. Maier, Alan C. Fenton, Patrick Van Reempts, Anna-Karin Bonamy, Jan Mazela, Klaus Børch, Corinne Koopman-Esseboom, Heili Varendi, Henrique Barros, Jennifer J. Zeitlin, on behalf of the EPICE Cohort
Pediatrics (2017)

Summary coming soon

Variability in the management and outcomes of extremely preterm births across five European countries: a population-based cohort study
Lucy K Smith, Beatrice Blondel, Patrick Van Reempts, Elizabeth S Draper, Bradley N Manktelow, Henrique Barros, Marina Cuttini, Jennifer Zeitlin, for the EPICE Research Group
Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. (2017)

As a result of improved antenatal and neonatal care, survival has increased for infants born at the limits of viability, however not without risk of severe morbidities. Counselling parents and making decisions about treatments for these infants is difficult, as survival rates vary widely. The aim was to explore international variations in the management and survival of extremely low gestational age and birthweight births in the EPICE regions of Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK.

Association of Short Antenatal Corticosteroid Administration-to-Birth Intervals With Survival and Morbidity Among Very Preterm Infants: Results From the EPICE Cohort
Mikael Norman, Aurelie Piedvache, Klaus Børch, Lene Drasbek Huusom, Anna-Karin Edstedt Bonamy, Elizabeth A. Howell, Pierre-Henri Jarreau, Rolf F. Maier, Ole Pryds, Liis Toome, Heili Varendi, Tom Weber, Emilija Wilson, Arno Van Heijst, Marina Cuttini, Jan Mazela, Henrique Barros, Patrick Van Reempts, Elizabeth S. Draper, Jennifer Zeitlin, for the Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) Research Group
JAMA Pediatr. (2017)

Antenatal corticosteroids (ANS) are administered to pregnant women at risk of delivery before 34 weeks of gestation, in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in their infants. The administration-to-birth intervals of ANS varies, and it is not known how close to delivery ANS administration is efficient. The aim was to explore the association between the time from first ANS injection to delivery and survival and morbidity among 4594 singleton very preterm infants in all 19 of the EPICE regions.

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