Article Sidebar
Article Details
Issue
Section
Articles
A. AFRICAN HEALTH SCIENCES OPEN ACCESS POLICY
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
Neonatal nutrition and later outcomes of very low birth weight infants at Kenyatta national hospital
Abstract
Background: Extensive research in developed countries has established that very low birth weight (VLBW) infants are particularly vulnerable to the effects of early nutritional deficiencies. There is, however, little information from poor countries on the long-term effects of these deficiencies in such infants.
Objective: Determine the association between neonatal feeding regimens and post-discharge morbidity/ mortality and neurological abnormalities at the age of two years for a cohort of VLBW infants.
Design: Prospective Cohort.
Methods: One hundred and seventy five VLBW infants were recruited over a consecutive period of one year and followed up to the age of two years corrected for gestation. With neonatal feeding regimes as the exposure variable, post-discharge re-hospitalization, mortality and Saigal and Rosenbaum's functional disability assessment scores were compared as the outcome variables.
Results: The 175 infants recruited into the study had median birth weight of 1400±103 grams and gestation 32 ±2.3 weeks.The male: female ratio was 2:3 while 64 (36.6%) had been born intrauterine growth retarded. During the newborn period, 83(47.4%), 35 (20.0%) and 57 (32.6%) of the infants fed on exclusive breast milk, pre-term formula and mixed preparations respectively. The median neonatal weight gain was 17 ±2.5, 15 ±2.0 and 13 ±3.9 grams/kilo/day for preterm formula, combined and exclusive breast milk fed infants respectively. More of the infants fed on breast milk alone were re-hospitalized compared to those on pre-term formula, RR 2.3; 95%CI 1.4-3.6 or mixed milk preparations, RR 1.9; 95% CI 1.4-2.7. Infants exclusively fed on breast milk had more neurological disabilities than those on pre-term formula alone, RR 3.2; 95% CI 1.2-8.1. Though only 22.9% of pre-term milk fed infants died compared to 36.1% of those on breast milk alone the difference was not statistically significant, P>0.05.
Conclusion: Nutritionally enhanced enteral feeds during the first month of life appear to have reduced post-discharge morbidity and improved neurological outcomes at two years in VLBW infants.
Keywords: early nutrition, very low birth weight
African Health Sciences Vol. 7 (2) 2007: pp. 108-114
