Abstract
Background: Suck-swallow rhythmicity and the integration of breathing into infant feeding are developmentally regulated. Neurological injury and breathing abnormalities can both impact feeding in preterm infants.
Objective: To determine the effects of neurologic injury independent of effects of disordered breathing on feeding biorhythms in premature infants.
Methods: Low-risk preterm infants (LRP), infants with Grade 3–4 Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH), those with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and those with both BPD and IVH (BPD+IVH) were identified. Forty-seven infants, 32–42 weeks Postmenstrual Age (PMA) were evaluated on one or more occasions (131 studies). Of these, 39 infants (81 studies) were performed at >35 weeks PMA. Coefficient of variation (COV) (=standard deviation of the inter-event (e.g., suck-suck, swallow-breath, etc.) interval divided by the mean of the interval) was used to quantify rhythmic stability.
Results: To adjust for PMA, only those infants >35–42 weeks were compared. Suck-suck COV was significantly lower (more rhythmically stable) in the LRP group [COV = 0.274 ± 0.051 (S.D.)] compared to all other groups (BPD = 0.325 ± 0.066; IVH = 0.342 ± 0.072; BPD + IVH = 0.314 ± 0.069; all p < 0.05). Similarly, suck-swallow COV was significantly lower in LRP babies (0.360 ± 0.066) compared to the BPD group (0.475 ± 0.113) and the IVH cohort (0.428 ± 0.075) (p < 0.05). The BPD+IVH group (0.424 ± 0.109), while higher, was not quite statistically significant.
Conclusions: Severe IVH negatively impacts suck-suck and suck-swallow rhythms. The independent effect of neurological injury in the form of IVH on feeding rhythms suggests that quantitative analysis of feeding may reflect and predict neurological sequelae.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-23-2021
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.673152
Funding Information
This work was supported in part by NIH #5K23K05081 (ER).
Related Content
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Repository Citation
Gewolb, Ira H.; Sobowale, Babatunde T.; Vice, Frank L.; Patwardhan, Abhijit R.; Solomonia, Nino; and Reynolds, Eric W., "The Effect of Severe Intraventricular Hemorrhage on the Biorhythms of Feeding in Premature Infants" (2021). Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications. 46.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cbme_facpub/46
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, v. 9, article 673152.
© 2021 Gewolb, Sobowale, Vice, Patwardhan, Solomonia and Reynolds.
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