Quality Improvement Project Designed to Decrease Weight-Length Disproportion at Discharge in Very Preterm Infants

Background: Preterm (PT) very-low-birth-weight (≤1500gm) infants often have disproportionate weight-for-length (WtFL) growth starting in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and extending to 1-3yrs, contributing to their risk for obesity, elevated blood pressure and serum leptin in infancy and adolescence. However, increased Wt gain at discharge is associated with better neurodevelopment. Aims: To test the hypothesis that adjustable diet and valid L measurements in the NICU may reduce WtFL disproportion (body mass index [BMI]>90th centile) at discharge and 1yr of age Study design: Single-institution quality improvement (QI) project including a …