ABSTRACT
Objective To study the influence of breast-feeding on the common neonatal comorbidities of very low birth weight (ELBW) infants.Method A retrospective study was conducted in our hospital from July 2014 to September 2015.The ELBW infants with birth weight between 1 000 g and 1 500 g were enrolled into the study.The infants were assigned into three groups according to human milk intake during hospitalization:high-volume breast feeding group (the high-volume group) (human milk equal to or greater than 75％),small-volume breast feeding group (the small-volume group) (human milk less than 75％) and premature formula group (the formula group) (exclusive formula fed during hospitalization).The general status,weight gain,the incidences of gastrointestinal dysfunction,neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC),late onset sepsis,premature retinopathy (ROP),bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) during hospitalization were compared between the three groups.Logistic regression analysis was applied.Result A total of 210 cases were included in the study.32 cases in the high-volume group,73 cases in the small-volume group and 105 in the formula group.The incidence of NEC (Bell's stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ) in the high-volume group was significantly lower than the small-volume group and the formula group (6.3％ vs.24.7％,26.7％) (P ＜ 0.05).No statistical differences existed as for the incidences of gastrointestinal dysfunction,sepsis,ROP,BPD,and PVL (P ＞0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio (OR) of survival without NEC in the highvolume group were 0.183 compared with the formula group and 0.204 compared with the small-volume group;and the 95％ confidence interval were 0.041 ～0.818,0.044 ～ 0.938 respectively.No statistically significant differences existed among the three groups in the growth rate of body weight,the time needed to regain birth weight,the time needed to reach total enteral nutrition and the length of hospital stay (P ＞0.05).Conclusion High-volume breast milk intake can reduce the incidence of NEC (Bell's stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ).Breast-feeding has little adverse effects on common comorbidities of ELBW infants.Enhanced breastfeeding has similar efficacy comparing with formula feeding in the catch-up growth.