Jiwon Lee Wang, Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States; Megan Kraemer, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States; Tricia J.. Johnson, RUSH University, Chicago, IL, United States; Katherine Bell, Brigham and Women’s Hsopital, Boston, MA, United States; Brad Appelhans, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States; Aloka L. Patel, Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States
Fellow Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Illinois, United States
Background: It has been well-established that optimizing nutrition in preterm (PT) infants is essential to their growth and neurocognitive development, with detrimental effects associated with inadequate nutrition. In addition to growth, body composition of the PT infants is also linked with later health outcomes. Nutritional studies have focused on the adequacy of protein provision. One method of measuring adequate protein intake is serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serial BUN levels may be used to guide protein provision. However, there is a lack of data regarding the association between serum BUN levels and body composition of PT infants. Objective: To evaluate the association between serum BUN levels and body composition of PT infants. We hypothesize that PT infants with suboptimal levels of serum BUN will have decreased fat-free mass compared to PT infants with normal BUNs. Design/Methods: Prospective cohort study of PT infants born at < 32 weeks gestational age or with birth weight < 1500 grams. We measured body composition utilizing bioimpedance analysis (BIA) at time of discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Serum BUN measured as standard of care while in the NICU were abstracted from the electronic medical records along with anthropometric data, feeding history, demographic data, medical history, and maternal perinatal history. We will compare the body composition between subjects with all BUN levels in the normal range (≥10 per previous studies) and subjects with suboptimal BUN levels. BIA data will be evaluated as a continuous variable and described in terms of means or medians depending on the distribution curve. Regression analyses will be conducted to determine the difference in BIA between the two groups, adjusting for significant covariates. Data collection was conducted for 66 subjects from January 2022 to October 2024 and data analysis will be completed by January 2024. This study was approved by the Rush University Medical Center IRB and informed consent was obtained from a parent/guardian.
