A daily dose of docosahexaenoic acid for 14 days starting with the first enteral feed may prevent necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Efficacy of Docosahexaenoic Acid for the Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Nutrients. 2021 Feb 17 ;13(2). Epub 2021 Feb 17. PMID: 33671220
Mariela Bernabe-García
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an inflammatory bowel disease and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. In this study, a randomized double-blind parallel-group (1:1) trial was carried out in two neonatal intensive care units of two tertiary hospitals. Two hundred and twenty-five preterm newborns with an expected functional gastrointestinal tract were recruited and received an enteral dose of 75 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)/kg body weight or high-oleic sunflower oil daily for 14 days from the first enteral feed after birth. Confirmed NEC was evaluated with Bell's scale from stage≥ IIa. Two hundred and fourteen randomized infants were analyzed in terms of the intent-to-treat (DHA-group:= 105; control-group:= 109); data for two hundred infants were analysed per protocol. Confirmed NEC was lower in infants from the DHA-group compared with the control-group (0/100 vs. 7/100;= 0.007), with RR = 0.93 (95% CI 0.881 to 0.981), risk difference = -7%, (95% CI -12.00 to -1.99), and number needed-to-treat = 15 (95% CI 8.3 to 50). Intent-to-treat analysis showed a lower level of treatment failure in the DHA-group compared with the control-group (6/105 (6%) vs. 16/109 (15%);= 0.03, RR = 0.905, (95% CI 0.826 to 0.991)). The results after multivariate-regression analysis remained significant. Adverse events (apart from the incidence of NEC) were not different between groups. A daily dose of DHA for 14 days starting with the first enteral feed may prevent NEC in preterm infants.