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This Article Full Text (Publish Ahead of Print[PDF]) All Versions of this Article: 90/6/1517    most recent ajcn.2009.28304v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Bauer, J. Articles by Gerss, J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bauer, J. Articles by Gerss, J. Agricola Articles by Bauer, J. Articles by Gerss, J.

Metabolic rate analysis of healthy preterm and full-term infants during the first weeks of life^1,2

¹ From the Departments of Pediatrics (JB and CW) and Medical Informatics and Biomathematics (JG), University Children's Hospital of Muenster, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.

² Address correspondence to J Bauer, University Children's Hospital of Muenster, Department of Pediatrics, Albert-Schweitzer Strasse 33, 48149 Muenster, Germany. E-mail: jacqueline.bauer{at}ukmuenster.de.

ABSTRACT

Background: Longitudinal data on resting energy expenditure (REE) in extremely immature infants and full-term neonates are scarce but are necessary to understand the energy requirements in neonatal nutrition during the first weeks of life.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to measure REE and its main components longitudinally during the first weeks of life to quantify their significant determinants.

Design: REE was investigated longitudinally over a period of 6 wk in healthy, stable, and growing preterm infants and over 5 wk in full-term neonates by means of indirect calorimetry.

Results: A total of 197 infants, including 183 premature infants and 14 full-term neonates, were recruited for the study. REE values increased in all gestational age groups from the first week to 5–6 wk of postnatal age, with the most pronounced increase in the smallest infants (+140%) and the smallest increase in the full-term neonates (+47%). Univariate calculations showed that for each postnatal week, REE increased by 6.93–9.64 kcal · kg^–1 · d^–1 with each additional kcal administered, for an average increase of 0.701 kcal, and increased by 1.78 kcal for each 1 g gain in weight. Postnatal age was the strongest predictor to influence REE (r² = 0.727, P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: This study provides comprehensive data on longitudinally determined REE values of healthy premature and full-term infants. Results may serve as a basis for comparative studies that address various disease states as well as different nutritional protocols.

Received for publication June 29, 2009. Accepted for publication September 12, 2009.