Nutritional characterization in patients hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit

Introduction: Patients in intensive care units are likely to present nutritional risk due to difficulties in adapting to the extrauterine environment, diseases associated with prematurity, among other factors.<span style="color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)">Objective: To describe the nutritional characteristics of the population of patients hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit of a high-complexity university hospital.</span><span style="color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)">Methods: Longitudinal descriptive study of the cohort of premature newborns hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), in a high complexity hospital in Colombia. Nutritional classification was based on anthropometric measurements from the interpretation of Fenton curves and review of perinatal history.</span><span style="color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)">Results: 51 patients were studied, mostly female and gestational age between >= 28 and <32 weeks (n=40, 78.43%), with a median hospital stay of 41 days (IQR=12). From the nutritional evaluation at admission, an adequate weight for gestational age (>= 10th and <90th percentile) was identified in 88.24% of the neonates, with implementation of parenteral nutrition for all patients, progressing to oral nutrition. as a method of intake upon discharge. The main digestive disease identified was necrotizing enterocolitis and, like other diseases of interest, severe infection and respiratory distress syndrome stand out.</span><span style="color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)">Conclusions: From the nutritional evaluation, nutritional alterations related to weight for gestational age and growth speed were identified in the NICU that require special attention and intervention, which is why it is recommended to have a systematic nutritional evaluation and monitoring. in patients from admission.</span>