Body composition and neurodevelopment in preterm infants

This is a single-center ongoing, longitudinal observational cohort study conducted in the Netherlands. The aim of the study is to assess the association between body composition, as proxy of metabolic health, and neurodevelopmental outcome in preterm infants born before 30 weeks of gestation. Preterm infants are followed-up until the corrected age of 2 years with regular visits including body composition measurements, other markers of metabolic health and assessment of brain growth and neurodevelopmental outcome

Early nutrition in preterm infants is essential for growth and neurodevelopment. The last decades more aggressive nutrition has been implemented in clinical practice to ensure optimal growth and thereby optimal neurodevelopmental outcome, as previous cohort studies showed that catch-up growth is associated with an improved neurodevelopmental outcome. However, it has also been shown recently that catch-up growth is associated with obesity and non-communicable diseases already in childhood. No studies assessed the influence of early growth and early nutrition on body composition in preterm infants in relation to neurodevelopmental outcome. We hypothesize that catch-up growth in the early postnatal period results in increased neonatal and childhood fat mass, but not in improved neurodevelopmental outcome.

Follow-up at: term-equivalent age, 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years corrected age

not applicable - observational trial