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Association between body composition at term equivalent age and Bayley scores at 2 years in preterm infants

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 1852–1858 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate whether in a historical cohort of preterm infants, body composition at term equivalent age (TEA) correlated with Bayley scores at 2 years of corrected age.

Study design

Ninety-five preterm babies were admitted to our neonatal intensive unit and underwent air-displacement plethysmography assessment at TEA. Of these, 74 completed Bayley tests at 2 years. We used multiple linear regression analysis to assess the association of body composition with Bayley scores.

Results

Mean gestational age and birthweight of our population were respectively 29.8 (±2.2) weeks and 1150 (±330) grams. Higher fat-free mass (FFM) z-score was associated with higher language (adjusted r = 0.28, p = 0.03) and motor composite scores (adjusted r = 0.33, p = 0.03) in both univariate and multiple regression analysis including birth weight, sex, maternal university degree, mechanical ventilation, and bilingualism.

Conclusions

In our study FFM at term equivalent age was associated with higher Bayley composite motor and language scores at 2 years.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Pierpaolo Brovedani for the collaboration in the follow-up visits of the preterm infants of Our Unit. We also acknowledge our mentor Dr. Sergio Demarini.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Trieste, Italy

    Jenny Bua, Francesco Maria Risso, Francesca Vallon & Laura Travan

  2. Division of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS “Burlo Garofolo”, Trieste, Italy

    Maura Bin

  3. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Udine, Udine, Italy

    Giulia Paviotti

Authors
  1. Jenny Bua
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  2. Francesco Maria Risso
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  3. Maura Bin
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  4. Francesca Vallon
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  5. Laura Travan
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  6. Giulia Paviotti
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Contributions

JB had primary responsibility for protocol development, supervision of data collection and curation, and writing of the manuscript. FMR participated in the development of the analytical framework for the study and reviewed the manuscript. MB was responsible for Bayley testing at 2 years of age. FV was responsible for initial data collection and participated in the preliminary data analysis. LT participated in data collection, in the development of the analytical framework for the study and review of the manuscript. GP supervised the design of the study, performed the final data analyses and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jenny Bua.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bua, J., Risso, F.M., Bin, M. et al. Association between body composition at term equivalent age and Bayley scores at 2 years in preterm infants. J Perinatol 41, 1852–1858 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01074-x

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