Factors affecting the catch-up growth of preterm infants after discharge in China: a multicenter study based on the health belief model

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study was to analyze the growth status and to identify the risk factors that influence the catch-up growth of preterm infants after discharge and to provide evidence for feeding strategies and the need for further research. Methods A descriptive correlational analysis was applied. The sample consisted of 309 preterm infants and their caregivers selected from June to August 2017 from five women’s and children’s hospitals. Self-designed questionnaires based on knowledge, attitude and practice and the Health Belief Model (HBM) were used to measure the catch-up growth status of preterm infants after discharge. Logistic regression was used to determine the risk factors for the catch-up growth of preterm infants. Results The results showed that of 309 preterm infants, only 14 (4.5%) were underweight, and 52 (17.4%) did not meet the criteria for catch-up growth at 12 months of actual age. The logistic regression analysis showed that gestational age, regular health care, caregivers’ educational background, mothers’ daily contact with the baby, monthly average family income, the addition of a breast milk supplement, and daily milk volume were risk factors that affected the catch-up growth of preterm infants after discharge. Conclusions The rate of catch-up growth of preterm infants is still not high. We should pay much more attention to preterm infants of small gestational age and guide their child care on a regular basis to detect and correct risk factors in a timely fashion, especially those involving lower daily milk volume, lower degree of culture and family economic difficulties. Second, we suggest that the government publish relevant policy that appropriately increases the length of maternity leave for preterm mothers. Future studies should have larger sample sizes and explore other important factors influencing the catch-up growth of preterm infants.

Avaliação Do Estado Nutricional De Recém-Nascidos Pré-Termo Em Unidade De Terapia Intensiva Neonatal / Assessment of Nutritional Status of Preterm Newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

“…Por fim, a fase de equilíbrio, caracteriza-se por uma velocidade de crescimento comparável à das crianças saudáveis nascidas a termo (CARDOSO-DEMARTINI; BAGATIN; SILVA; BOGUSZEWSKI, 2011). Cabe destacar que, a intensidade e duração destas fases variam de acordo com a idade gestacional, o peso de nascimento e a gravidade da condição do RN (BOCCA-TJEERTES;VAN BUUREN;BOS;KERSTJENS et al, 2012;LIU;LUO;PENG;XIONG et al, 2019;ZHAO;DING;HU;DAI et al, 2015).Alguns fatores podem influenciar o crescimento pós-natal de prematuros, tais como as intercorrências durante o período de internação e pós-alta hospitalar (ROVER; VIERA; SILVEIRA; GUIMARÃES et al, 2016), as práticas alimentares pós-natais (DAMASCENO; SILVA; XIMENES NETO; FERREIRA et al, 2014) e o estado nutricional ao nascimento (LIMA; CARVALHO; COSTA; MOREIRA, 2014). Durante o perído de internação os principais fatores associados à danos no crescimento do prematuro são as intercorrências clínicas, como infecções, distúbios do trato gastrointestinal e impossibilidade de ingestão alimentar adequada (ALTERMAN, 2016).…”

Analysis of catch-up growth in 87 premature infants within corrected age of 12 months:a retrospective single-center study

“…In additional, the time after 6 months of corrected age is a critical period for supplementary feeding and dietary habit development, suggesting that there may be many problems at this stage, which needs close attention. A study by Chinese scholars showed that breast milk forti er and daily milk consumption were important factors affecting catch-up growth of premature infants after discharge [13]. However, whether the catch-up growth decline in 6 months after birth is related to supplementary food, feeding methods, eating habits, diseases or other factors remains to be further studied.…”

Best practices, challenges and innovations in pediatrics in 2019

“…Factors affecting the catch-up growth in preterm infants are an important clinical issue [ 30 ]. Liu et al [ 31 ] in their interesting article address the important aspect of recovery growth of preterm infants after discharge. The authors based their analysis on the health belief model, a social psychological health behavior change model developed to explain and predict health-related behaviors.…”