Outcomes Following Early Parenteral Nutrition Use in Preterm Neonates

BACKGROUND An essential part of neonatal care is providing nutrition to ensure that babies grow and develop. Providing this can be difficult in premature babies because their intestines are underdeveloped. They often have difficulty digesting milk so feeds are introduced gradually. To help babies grow and develop during this period, additional nutrition may be provided as a fluid into a vein; this is called "parenteral nutrition" (PN). Unfortunately, PN increases the risk of serious complications like bloodstream infection (also known as "sepsis"). For babies who are moderately premature there is little evidence to guide decision making about which babies will benefit from PN. This group of babies have more reserves of fat and are less dependent on PN, but are still at risk of sepsis. As a consequence, some doctors use PN and others do not. AIMS Firstly, to describe which babies are given PN during the first postnatal week in neonatal units in England, Scotland and Wales. Secondly, to determine whether in babies born 7-10 weeks preterm (moderately premature), providing PN in the first week after birth, compared to not to providing PN, improves survival to discharge from the neonatal unit. Finally, to evaluate if the early use of PN in moderately preterm babies affects other important outcomes in the neonatal core outcomes set. IMPORTANCE This work will describe the extent of PN use in England, Scotland and Wales. This is currently unknown. This project will improve understanding of the balance of benefits and harms of PN use in premature babies and will help doctors and parents make informed treatment choices. METHODS The investigators will use the National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD) to study all babies born in England, Scotland and Wales; they will identify which babies were given PN during the first week, and which were not. The investigators will use the NNRD to identify babies born 7-10 weeks prematurely and compare outcomes in babies that were given and not given PN in the first week after birth. The investigators will use statistical techniques to identify two sets of babies in the NNRD who are very similar (in terms of how prematurely they were born, their birth weight, and so on), the only difference being whether they were given PN or not. As the two groups will be similar any difference in their outcomes (such as survival) is likely to be due to whether or not they received PN.