1. Tachygastria in Preterm Infants: A Longitudinal Cohort Study
- Author
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Eric Brum, Ortigoza, Jackson, Cagle, Larry Steven, Brown, Sherief, Mansi, Sandra Peralez, Gosser, Ashley D, Montgomery, Zeri, Foresman, Monica L, Boren, Pamela S, Pettit, Tami D, Thompson, Diana M, Vasil, Jui-Hong, Chien, Josef, Neu, Andrew Young, Koh, Rinarani, Sanghavi, and Julie, Mirpuri
- Subjects
Stomach ,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health ,Infant, Newborn ,Gastroenterology ,Infant ,Humans ,Reproducibility of Results ,Longitudinal Studies ,Prospective Studies ,Infant, Premature - Abstract
Tachygastria is a gastric dysrhythmia (4 to ≤9 cycles per minute, cpm) associated with gastric hypomotility and gastrointestinal disorders. Healthy preterm infants spend more time in tachygastria than adults; however, normative values are not defined. We sought to determine the percent of time preterm infants spend in tachygastria.We conducted a longitudinal, prospective cohort study with weekly electrogastrography (EGG) recordings in 51 preterm34 weeks' gestation and 5 term (reference) infants. We calculated percentage recording time in tachygastria (% tachygastria) and determined the mean ± standard deviation (SD) across EGG sessions. Mixed effects model was performed to test weekly variance in % tachygastria and gestational age effect. Successive pre- and post-prandial measurements were obtained to assess reproducibility of % tachygastria. We compared time to achieve full feeds between subjects with % tachygastria within 1 SD from the mean versus % tachygastria1 SD from mean.Three hundred seventy-six EGG sessions were completed (N = 56). Mean % tachygastria was 40% with SD ±5%. We demonstrated no change in % tachygastria across 9 postnatal weeks (P = 0.70) and no gestational age effect. No difference was demonstrated between successive pre- (P = 0.91) and post-prandial (P = 0.96) % tachygastria. Infants with 35%-45% tachygastria (within 1 SD from mean) had higher gestational age and less time to achieve full feeds than infants with35% or45% tachygastria.EGG is a reproducible tool to assess % tachygastria in preterm infants. Clinical significance of increased or decreased % tachygastria needs further investigation to validate if 35%-45% tachygastria is safe for feeding.
- Published
- 2022
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