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Preterm infant nutrition: considerations for infants at risk of refeeding syndrome

Journal of Perinatology volume 43, pages 120–123 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Refeeding syndrome (RS) in preterm infants is a scenario of fetal malnutrition, primarily resulting from placental insufficiency, followed by a postnatal physiologic adaptation and response to an imbalance of nutrients provided parenterally. Growth restriction and small gestational age status are common findings in infants at risk of developing RS. Adverse clinical outcomes associated with RS may be severe and life-threatening. The biochemical abnormalities that occur in RS may be mitigated through careful monitoring and adaptation of the clinical management of parenteral and enteral nutrition. This perspective reviews the physiology and metabolism in infants with RS and provides suggested approaches to their clinical monitoring and nutritional management.

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Data sharing is not applicable to this perspective as no datasets were generated or analyzed for its development.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Daniel T. Robinson

  2. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Daniel T. Robinson

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Sarah N. Taylor

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Fernando Moya

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  1. Daniel T. Robinson
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  3. Fernando Moya
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Contributions

DTR, SNT, and FM contributed equally to the design and writing for this manuscript. DTR, SNT, and FM contributed to the conception and design, equally contributed to the drafting of the manuscript, and critically revised the manuscript. DTR, SNT, and FM gave final approval of this manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of this work ensuring integrity and accuracy.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel T. Robinson.

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Competing interests

DTR received compensation for serving as a member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board for a clinical investigation sponsored by Fresenius Kabi in the past 12 months. DTR and SNT serve as institutional principal investigators, with no salary funding, for a consortium database sponsored by Mead Johnson Nutrition. SNT has received an honorarium from Astarte Medical and serves as institutional principal investigator, with no salary funding, to conduct studies sponsored by Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and Prolacta Bioscience. FM receives research funding from Mead Johnson Nutrition.

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Robinson, D.T., Taylor, S.N. & Moya, F. Preterm infant nutrition: considerations for infants at risk of refeeding syndrome. J Perinatol 43, 120–123 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-022-01531-1

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