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Objective: To compare the efficacy of daily assisted physicalexercise (starting from one week of postnatal age) on bonestrength at 40 weeks of post menstrual age to no intervention ininfants born between 27 and 34 weeks of gestation.Design: Open-label randomized controlled trial.Setting: Tertiary-care teaching hospital in northern India from 16May, 2013 to 21 November, 2013.Participants: 50 preterm neonates randomized to Exercisegroup (n=26) or Control group (n=24).Intervention: Neonates in Exercise group underwent onesession of physical exercise daily from one week of age, whichincluded range-of-motion exercises with gentle compression,flexion and extension of all the extremities with movements ateach joint done five times, for a total of 10-15 min. Infants inControl group underwent routine care and were not subjected toany massage or exercise Outcome measures:Primary: Bone speed of sound of lefttibia measured by quantitative ultrasound at 40 weeks postmenstrual age. Secondary:Anthropometry (weight length andhead circumference) and biochemical parameters (calcium,phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase) at 40 weeks post menstrualage.Results:The tibial bone speed of sound was comparablebetween the two groups [2858 (142) m/s vs. 2791 (122) m/s;mean difference 67.6 m/s; 95% CI - 11 to 146 m/s; P=0.38]. Therewas no difference in anthropometry or biochemical parameters.Conclusion:Daily assisted physical exercise does not affectthe bone strength, anthropometry or biochemical parameters inpreterm (27 to 34 weeks) infants.
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Objective To investigate the changes of serum leptin and bone speed of sound (SOS) with gestational age (GA) and relationship between leptin and bone SOS in appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) neonates. Methods A total of 65 AGA neonates were recruited and divided into three groups according to their gestational age:preterm infant (GA 31-34 w, 14 cases), late preterm infant (GA 34-37 w, 13 cases), and full-term infant (GA≥37 w, 38 cases). Anthropometric parameters, including birth weight, length, leg length, skin fold thickness were measured in all the subjects, and the neonatal nutritional status and body fat content were evaluated by Ponderal Index (PI) and Weststrate equation (F%) respectively. Serum leptin concentration and tibial SOS were measured within 7 days after birth. Results There were signiifcant differences in GA (F=140.199, P<0.001), birth weight (F=47.042, P<0.001), birth length (F=46.877, P<0.001), leg length (F=17.543, P<0.001), PI (F=11.898, P<0.001) and F%( F=21.955, P<0.001) among three groups. Serum leptin and tibial SOS were signiifcantly different among these groups ( F=49.724, 20.052 respectively, P<0.001), and both of them were positively correlated with gestational age and birth weight (P<0.01). In addition, leptin was positively correlated with tibial SOS, but the correlation disappeared after adjustment for GA and anthropometry. According to the multivariate forward stepwise regression analysis, tibial SOS was found to be signiifcantly positively associated with gestational age and birth weight in the three groups. Conclusions Both bone SOS and serum leptin are signiifcantly correlated with gestational age and birth weight in AGA neonates, and leptin is related with but not the independent direct predictor of bone SOS.