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Assessment of Body Composition in Premature Children Submitted to an Early Stimulation Program

H

Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Very Low Birth Weight Infant
Parent-Child Relations
Nutrition, Healthy
Early Intervention
Preterm Birth

Treatments

Other: Conventional care
Other: Early stimulation

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT05399667
2019-0809

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a cross-sectional study of a randomized clinical trial to investigate nutritional aspects of pre-scholar aged children born preterm submitted to an early stimulation program versus conventional care program. The preterm-born children participated in the project entitle "Early Intervention Program for Preterm Infants and Their Parents: establishing the impact at 18 Months Corrected Age" (NCT02835612), which performed a continuous early stimulation in very and extremely preterm infant's families in their first 12 to 18 months. In the present study, preterm born children currently with 3 to 6 years old and their mothers (or legal guardian) are once more invited to a one-day visit for a nutritional and clinical evaluation at the Clinical Research Center of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre/Brazil. In the consultation, preterm born children and theirs mothers are submitted to the following exams: body composition by electrical bioimpedance, clinical and physical evaluation, anthropometric measurements, and children's eating habits, eating behavior and parental educational style in food through specific questionnaires. Moreover, this study will also investigate a group of pre-scholar health children born at term to obtain reference values for variables analysed. The goal with these findings is to determine if an early stimulation program could present a positive impact in anthropometric outcomes and nutritional aspects in this more vulnerable preterm born population.

Full description

The main goal of the present study is to investigate anthropometric and physical measurements of pre-scholar aged children born preterm and their parents submitted to an early stimulation program, as well as to investigate children's eating practices, children's eating behavior and parental educational style in feeding.

This currently study is a segment of a previous project entitle: Early Intervention Program for Preterm Infants and Their Parents: establishing the impact at 18 Months Corrected Age (NCT02835612), which performed a continuous early stimulation in very preterm infant's families in their first 12 to 18 months. The previous study randomized preterm born children less than 32 weeks of gestational age and/or very low birth weight at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) - a tertiary hospital in south Brazil, in the following two groups: CONVENTIONAL GROUP (CG) that received standard care (skin-to skin care by mother, kangaroo care, and breast feeding policy) according to the routine care of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and, after NICU discharge, they were referred for a traditional follow up clinic taking care of the demands according to their necessity. INTERVENTION GROUP (IG): Skin-to skin care by mother, kangaroo care, breastfeeding policy plus massage therapy were made by the mothers until hospital discharge. After discharge, they received standard follow up care plus orientation for a continuous global simulation at home. The early intervention was performed according to developmental milestones, anticipating in one month evolutional step acquisition of motor and/or cognitive expected for corrected age. Besides that, we have a total of 10 home visits promoting guidance and supervision sessions.

In the present study, preterm born children aging between 3 to 6 years old and their mothers (or legal guardian) are once more invited to a one-day visit in the Clinical Research Center of HCPA for nutritional and clinical evaluation. In the visiting day, research participants are submitted to the following exams: body composition by electrical bioimpedance (InBody 770), anthropometric measurements (weight, height, skinfold thickness), clinical and physical evaluation (6 minutes walt test) and children's eating habits, eating behavior and parental educational style in food through specific questionnaires, such as Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS), Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) and Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ). Data from neonatal period and from the follow up in the clinical care will also be analysed to associate with current nutritional and clinical findings. In addition to preterm population, a group of term born health children and their mother will be invited to participate with the goal to access reference values of the parameters investigated. This group of term born children (>37 weeks of gestational age and/or birth weight >2500g) will be recruited from the daycare of our hospital institution.

It is expect with these findings to determine if an early stimulation program could present a positive impact in anthropometric outcomes and nutritional aspects of our more vulnerable preterm born population.

Enrollment

180 patients

Sex

All

Ages

3 to 6 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria: Preterm children born at HCPA (birth weight <1500g and/or gestational age <32 weeks); Term born children (> 37 weeks of gestational age and/or birth weight >2500g)

Exclusion Criteria: Congenital malformations

Trial design

180 participants in 3 patient groups

Early stimulation
Description:
Skin-to skin care by mother, kangaroo care, breastfeeding policy plus massage therapy are made by the mothers until hospital discharge. After discharge, they receive standard follow up care plus orientation for a continuous global simulation at home (total of 10 home visits independently of the standard evaluation and care that will be performed; visits promoting guidance and supervision sessions).
Treatment:
Other: Early stimulation
Conventional care
Description:
Standard care according to the routine care of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) (skin-to skin care by mother, kangaroo care, and breast feeding policy) and their needs in the follow up program (motor, and cognition evaluations and interventions).
Treatment:
Other: Conventional care
Control group
Description:
Term born children to obtain reference values for the variables evaluated in the present study.

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Central trial contact

Juliana Bernardi, Prof PhD; Rafael O Fernandes, PhD

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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