Neonatal Antibiotic Treatment Can Affect Stool Pattern and Oral Tolerance in Preterm Infants

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-07, Vol.12 (7), p.1043
• Main Authors: Reyes-García, Diana Verónica, Canul-Euan, Arturo Alejandro, Rivera-Rueda, María Antonieta, Cruz-Alvarado, Claudia Edith, Bermejo-Martínez, Luisa Bertha, Arreola-Ramírez, Gabriela, Cordero-González, Guadalupe, Carrera-Muiños, Sandra, Diaz-Valencia, Juan Daniel, Estrada-Gutiérrez, Guadalupe, Irles, Claudine, Gonzalez-Perez, Gabriela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Birth weight; delayed meconium passage; Disease; Dysbacteriosis; empirical antibiotic; Enteral feeding; Enteral nutrition; Feces; Gastroesophageal reflux; Gestational age; green stools; Health risks; Hospitals; Infants; Inflammatory diseases; Intestinal microflora; Mechanical ventilation; Meconium; Microbiomes; Mortality; Mothers; Motility; neonatal antibiotic; Neonates; Newborn babies; Nutrition; Parenteral nutrition; Pneumonia; Premature babies; preterm infant stool pattern; Regression analysis; Regression models; Sepsis; Substance abuse treatment; Vagina; Ventilators
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life12071043

Preterm neonates are at high risk of infectious and inflammatory diseases which require antibiotic treatment. Antibiotics influence neonatal gut microbiome development, and intestinal dysbiosis has been associated with delayed gastrointestinal transit. Neonates who take less time to pass meconium have a better tolerance to enteral feeding. We analyzed the effect of neonatal antibiotic treatment on the stool pattern and oral tolerance in 106 preterm infants < 33 weeks gestational age. Neonates were classified in 3 groups according to neonatal antibiotic (ABT) treatment days: no antibiotics, 3−7 d ABT, and ≥8 d ABT. Preterm infants from the ≥8 d ABT group took longer to pass meconium and to start green and yellow stools, took longer to reach 100 and 150 mL/kg/day, and reached reduced volumes in enteral feeds at day of life 14 and 28 than infants from no ABT and 3−7 d ABT groups. Multiple linear regression models showed that neonatal antibiotic treatment, birth weight, invasive mechanical ventilation, surfactant, enteral feeding start day, neonatal parenteral nutrition, and neonatal fasting days are associated with the stool pattern and oral tolerance in preterm infants.