Comparative effectiveness of two lipid emulsions in preventing retinopathy of prematurity in preterm infants requiring parenteral nutrition

Abstract

Objectives: The main aim was to compare the effects of 2 parenteral lipid emulsions on retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) incidence, severity, and need for treatment. Secondary aim was to compare the effect on weight gain in the first 6 weeks of life.

Methods: Single-center, observational, retrospective study analyzing preterm infants with a gestational age (GA) <31 weeks and a birth weight <1251 g born between April 2015 and December 2018. The infants' medical records were reviewed to collect clinical data. Parenteral nutrition (PN) details were obtained from the hospital pharmacy database.

Results: In total, 180 patients were included: 90 received ClinOleic® and 90 received SMOFlipid®. No significant differences were observed for the incidence of ROP (40% in ClinOleic® group and 41% in SMOFlipid® group, p=.88) or ROP requiring treatment (4% and 10%, respectively, p=.152). Weekly weight gain was similar in the 2 groups.

Conclusions: This study showed no difference between the 2 groups regarding ROP, ROP requiring treatment, or weekly weight gain in the first 6 weeks of life.

Keywords: Docosahexaenoic acid; Emulsión lipídica intravenosa; Intravenous fat emulsion; Nutrición parenteral; Omega-3 fatty acids; Parenteral nutrition; Retinopathy of prematurity; Retinopatía de la prematuridad; Ácido docosahexanoico; Ácido graso omega-3.