Sodium Supplementation and Growth in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2011-01-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Adequate growth during the neonatal period is critical for optimal long term outcomes. Despite maximal calorie intake, sixty percent of very low birth weight infants still fail to thrive suggesting that factors other than total calorie intake are important in ensuring consistent weight gain. Several reports have indicated a positive sodium balance is critical in ensuring good weight gain in very low birth weight infants, however these infants are susceptible to low serum sodium concentrations. Urine sodium values are sometimes used to diagnosis of hyponatremia or negative sodium balance after the first two weeks of life, but there is no evidence for this practice in preterm neonates. Our central hypothesis is that early supplementation with sodium will ensure positive sodium balance in very low birth weight infants and will result in optimal weight gain and enhanced long term outcomes. Secondarily we hypothesize that low sodium concentrations in the urine will not correlate with low serum sodium values.

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
• Collaborator: University of Cincinnati

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• infants born at less than 32 weeks postmenstrual age

Exclusion Criteria:

• infants with major malformations deemed incompatible with life disease states characterized by edema renal failure, defined as an increase in serum creatinine by 0.5 mg/dl/day or urine output less than 0.5 ml/kg/hour