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

Premature infants often undergo postnatal growth failure and show an altered body composition (BC) at termequivalent age (TEA) with lower fat-free mass (FFM) and increased fat mass (FM) than infants born at term.

Early nutrition and growth may impact brain growth. Nevertheless, the evidence relating BC and later neurodevelopment remains sparse.

The aim of this study is to evaluate whether in an historical cohort of preterm infants, BC at TEA correlated with Bayley scores measured at 2 years of corrected age.

Ninety-five preterm babies were admitted to the neonatal intensive unit and underwent air-displacement plethysmography assessment (PEA POD Infant Body Composition System, COSMED, Srl, Rome, Italy).at TEA. Of these, 74 completed Bayley tests at 2 years.

The study results show that better growth in terms of lean mass at term equivalent age was associated with higher composite motor and language scores (Bayley scores) at 2 years of age, independently from disease severity, maternal education and bilingualism.

Article details:

- Title: Association between body composition at term equivalent age and Bayley scores at 2 years in preterm infants
- Authors: Jenny Bua, Francesco Maria Risso, Maura Bin, Francesca Vallon, Laura Travan, Giulia Paviotti
- Published in: Journal of Perinatology 41, pages 1852–1858 (2021) - 13 May 2021
- Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01074-x