Nutritional strategies and gut microbiota composition as risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis in very-preterm infants

Background: The pathophysiology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains poorly understood. Objective: We assessed the relation between feeding strategies, intestinal microbiota composition, and the development of NEC. Design: We performed a prospective nationwide population-based study, EPIPAGE 2 (Etude Epidemiologique sur les Petits Ages Ges-tationnels), including preterm infants born at,32 wk of gestation in France in 2011. From individual characteristics observed during the first week of life, we calculated a propensity score for the risk of NEC (Bell's stage 2 or 3) after day 7 of life. We analyzed the relation between neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) strategies concerning the rate of progression of enteral feeding, the direct-breastfeeding policy, and the onset of NEC using general linear mixed models to account for clustering by the NICU. An ancillary propensitymatched case-control study, EPIFLORE (Etude Epidemiologique de la flore), in 20 of the 64 NICUs, analyzed the intestinal microbiota by culture and 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Results: Among the 3161 enrolled preterm infants, 106 (3.4%; 95% CI: 2.8%, 4.0%) developed NEC. Individual characteristics were significantly associated with NEC. Slower and intermediate rates of progression of enteral feeding strategies were associated with a higher risk of NEC, with an adjusted OR of 2.3 (95% CI: 1.2, 4.5; P = 0.01) and 2.0 (95% CI: 1.1, 3.5; P = 0.02), respectively. Less favorable and intermediate direct-breastfeeding policies were associated with higher NEC risk as well, with an adjusted OR of 2.5 (95% CI: 1.1, 5.8; P = 0.03) and 2.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 4.8; P = 0.02), respectively. Microbiota analysis performed in 16 cases and 78 controls showed an association between Clostridium neonatale and Staphylococcus aureus with NEC (P = 0.001 and P = 0.002). Conclusions: A slow rate of progression of enteral feeding and a less favorable direct-breastfeeding policy are associated with an increased risk of developing NEC. For a given level of risk assessed by propensity score, colonization by C. neonatale and/or S. aureus is significantly associated with NEC. This trial (EPIFLORE study) was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01127698.