Intestinal Microbiome in Preterm Infants Influenced by Enteral Iron Dosing

Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare the intestinal microbiome in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants who received different enteral iron supplementation (EIS) doses. Study Design: Longitudinal stool collection in 80 VLBW infants were conducted up to 2 months postnatally in a prospective study. The 16S rRNA regions V4 was used to calculate microbiome compositions and the Piphillin software was used for bacterial functional prediction. Linear mixed effect models and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were performed to examine the relationships between initial EIS dosage and stool microbiome and bacterial functional potential. Results: There were 105 samples collected before and 237 collected after EIS started from infants with birth gestational age and weight of 28.1 ± 2.4 weeks and 1103 ± 210 g, respectively. The average postnatal age at start of EIS was 17.9 ± 6.9 days and the average initial EIS dose was 4.8 ± 1.1 mg · kg−1 · day−1. Infants who were started on ≥6 mg · kg−1 · day−1 had higher abundances of Proteus and Bifidobacterium and a lower alpha diversity than those started on lower doses (P 
Source: Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition - Category: Gastroenterology Tags: Original Articles: Nutrition Source Type: research