Effect of Iron-fortified TPN on Preterm Infants Anemia

The purpose of this study is to determine whether iron-fortified TPN is effective in the preventative and treatment of preterm infants. Preterm infants are at risk for anemia especially in preterm infants. Generally the smaller Birth weight and gestational age the higher anemia rate in infants. About 25% to 85% of preterm infants develop evidence of anemia during infancy，77% VLBW（very low birth weight） infants developed anemia during the hospital stay. The effects of iron deficiency are pervasive and involve multiple organ systems. Poor physical growth, gastrointestinal disturbances, thyroid dysfunction, altered immunity and temperature instability has been attributed to iron deficiency in very low birth weight infants. So it is important to provide iron for preterm infants.

As enteral nutrition is not feasible soon after birth in most preterm infants, Parenteral iron administration is an efficacious method for us to select. For most preterm infants the use of TPN(total parenteral nutrition) is very common during the first ten days of life, so we hypothesis that iron-fortified TPN may have a preventative and treatment effect on preterm infants using TPN as a supplementation of oral nutrition; Iron-fortified TPN(total parenteral nutrition) can also improve iron store status of preterm infants. The higher concentration of iron used in this study the larger preventative or treatment effect on preterm infants anemia; It is safe to add Small dose of iron agent to TPN.