Working group reports: evaluation of the evidence to support practice guidelines for nutritional care of preterm infants-the Pre-B Project

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition 2016-02, Vol.103 (2), p.648S-678S
• Main Authors: Raiten, Daniel J, Steiber, Alison L, Carlson, Susan E, Griffin, Ian, Anderson, Diane, Hay, Jr, William W, Robins, Sandra, Neu, Josef, Georgieff, Michael K, Groh-Wargo, Sharon, Fenton, Tanis R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical Research - methods; Biomedical Research - trends; Child Nutrition Sciences - education; Child Nutrition Sciences - methods; Child Nutrition Sciences - trends; Combined Modality Therapy - adverse effects; Combined Modality Therapy - trends; Congresses as Topic; Enteral Nutrition - trends; Evidence-Based Medicine; Growth Disorders - etiology; Growth Disorders - prevention & control; Health Priorities; Humans; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Infant, Newborn; Neonatal care; Newborn babies; Nutrition; Nutritional Requirements; Parenteral Nutrition - adverse effects; Parenteral Nutrition - trends; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Precision Medicine; Premature birth; Premature Birth - diet therapy; Premature Birth - physiopathology; Premature Birth - therapy; Systematic review
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.115.117309

The "Evaluation of the Evidence to Support Practice Guidelines for the Nutritional Care of Preterm Infants: The Pre-B Project" is the first phase in a process to present the current state of knowledge and to support the development of evidence-informed guidance for the nutritional care of preterm and high-risk newborn infants. The future systematic reviews that will ultimately provide the underpinning for guideline development will be conducted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' Evidence Analysis Library (EAL). To accomplish the objectives of this first phase, the Pre-B Project organizers established 4 working groups (WGs) to address the following themes: 1) nutrient specifications for preterm infants, 2) clinical and practical issues in enteral feeding of preterm infants, 3) gastrointestinal and surgical issues, and 4) current standards of infant feeding. Each WG was asked to 1) develop a series of topics relevant to their respective themes, 2) identify questions for which there is sufficient evidence to support a systematic review process conducted by the EAL, and 3) develop a research agenda to address priority gaps in our understanding of the role of nutrition in health and development of preterm/neonatal intensive care unit infants. This article is a summary of the reports from the 4 Pre-B WGs.