Effects of breast feeding on serum ghrelin levels and insulin sensitivity of small for gestational age infants / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the changes of plasma ghrelin levels and insulin(INS) sensitivity of full-term infants small for gestational age (SGA) and the effects of breast feeding on it.Methods:Full-term SGA hospitalised in the Department of Neonatology, Wuhan Children′s Hospital from October 2014 to April 2019 were re-cruited as the SGA group (120 cases), with full-term infants appropriate for gestational age (AGA) born in the same period as the AGA group (96 cases) in this study with recorded birth weight and length.The levels of fasting blood glucose (FG), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), INS and ghrelin were measured 7 days after birth.Homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated.The SGA group was subdivided into breast feeding group and formula feeding group.The above indexes were tracked and mea-sured in the 3 rd and 6 th month, respectively, and their growth parameters were recorded. Results:There were no diffe-rences in serum FG, TG, LDL and HDL levels between the SGA and the AGA group (all P>0.05). Compared with the AGA group, the serum INS[(4.21±0.83) mIU/L vs.(3.54±1.10) mIU/L], ghrelin levels[(0.80±0.23) μg/L vs.(0.69±0.19) μg/L] and HOMA-IR (0.85±0.25 vs.0.72±0.25) increased in the SGA group, the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). Serum INS, HOMA-IR and ghrelin levels changed with the duration of breast feeding, the differences were statistically significant( F=12.394, 9.810, 5.531, all P<0.05). Conclusions:The serum ghrelin levels of SGA infants increased and INS sensitivity decreased.Breastfeeding can decrease levels of serum INS, HOMA-IR and ghrelin, and can improve INS sensitivity of SGA infants.