Growth Assessment of Preterm infants (GAP study)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Growth assessment of preterm infants using detailed anthropometry in Portsmouth and Southampton
IRAS ID
161766
Contact name
Mark Johnson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Southampton NHS trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 22 days
Research summary
It is well known that very premature babies do not grow well, and often leave hospital lighter, shorter and with smaller head circumferences than infants born at term. They also seem to have higher amounts of body fat and lower amounts of muscle and bone than infants born at term, and this is in part due to way in which they are fed whilst in hospital, as it is difficult to provide adequate nutrition with the right proportions of nutrients such as energy and protein. Weight, together with length and head circumference, are the measures currently used to asses growth in premature babies whilst in hospital, but they provide relatively little information about the way in which babies are growing in terms of their proportions of fat and muscle. Whilst sophisticated measures exist to measure fat and muscle, none of these are practical or valid for use in premature babies during their whole hospital stay. There is a need to try and develop simple measures to help assess the quality of growth in premature babies, and measures of upper arm, thigh and abdominal (belly) circumferences have been shown to be of use for this purpose in older babies and adults. We propose to measure these in a cohort of premature babies born consecutively over a 3 month period in two specialist premature baby units in Portsmouth and Southampton, in order to see if they do indeed change over time, and in response to the way in which the babies are fed. This will be the first step into developing a way to better monitor the nutrition and growth of premature babies in hospital. This is important, as the growth and body proportions of babies in early life can influence their development and risk of disease in later life.
REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/1275
Date of REC Opinion
19 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion