Complications of Parenteral Nutrition in Neonates

Parenteral nutrition allows preterm neonate's nutritional requirement for growth and development to be met. This retrospective study was conducted to assess weight gain and complications of parenteral nutrition in low birth weight (LBW) neonates, very low birth weight (VLBW) neonates and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) neonates. A total of 82 patients received parenteral nutrition. Patients received parenteral nutrition at mean age of 4.63 ± 3.87 days. There were no significant difference in the weight gain between three different birth weight group (ELBW, VLBW and LBW) (p>0.05). There was a significant association between birth weight group and complications related to parenteral nutrition (p=0.00009). ELBW neonates had a higher percentage of parenteral nutrition complication (93.3%) compared to VLBW (85%) and LBW (33.3%). Complications observed were mostly electrolyte disturbances across all three groups. Findings from this study were able to provide information regarding parenteral nutrition in promoting weight gain and risks of complications in preterm neonates between ELBW, VLBW and LBW. Closer monitoring of effectiveness and safety of parenteral nutrition must be performed to ensure that complications can be reduced in the clinical setting.