Assessing the association between pre-operative feeding and the development of oral feeding skills in infants with single ventricle heart disease: An analysis of the NPC-QIC dataset
Recommended Citation
Sagiv E, Tjoeng YL, Davis M, et al. Assessing the Association Between Pre-operative Feeding and the Development of Oral Feeding Skills in Infants with Single Ventricle Heart Disease: An Analysis of the NPC-QIC Dataset. Pediatr Cardiol. 2022;43(5):1141-1155. doi:10.1007/s00246-022-02837-9
Abstract
Pre-operative feeding may improve long-term feeding outcomes in single ventricle patients, including weaning from supplemental tube feedings in infancy. This study examines the association between pre-operative enteral feeding and subsequent long-term feeding outcomes while also assessing the counterbalancing risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Secondary analysis of the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative database was performed. The association between pre-operative feeding practice and achieving all oral feeds through the first year of life was examined using a multivariable regression model. Similarly, the association between pre-operative oral feeding and NEC was also assessed. Of 944 patients with 1-year feeding outcomes available, 58% were fed preoperatively (41.3% exclusively oral) and 12.3% were not fed per institutional approach. At hospital discharge after Stage 1 palliation, 57% required a feeding tube, while 39% required a feeding tube at their first birthday. In infants who were orally fed, the odds ratio to achieving tube-free feeding at 1 year was not significantly increased (1.3, confidence interval 0.8-2.0). Of 1740 infants with pre-operative feeding and Stage 1 there was no statistically significant difference in NEC among patients who were preoperatively fed versus those that were not fed per institutional approach (p = 0.2). Pre-operative feeding of infants with single ventricle heart disease was not associated with early achievement of tube-free feeding in the first year of life. However, pre-operative oral feeding was also not associated with increased risk of NEC, suggesting that it can be safely offered among appropriate patients.
Document Type
Article
PubMed ID
35157095
Affiliations
Advocate Children's Hospital