Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Although infant mortality rates have declined since 1999, there was a recent spike in sudden unexpected infant deaths from 2020 to 2022, according to data published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Black premature newborns continue to experience higher rates of certain complications after delivery compared with white premature newborns, despite no differences in mortality rates, data show.

Rates of morbidity and mortality among very preterm infants in the United States have continued to decrease but at a slower pace in recent years, and the rate of chronic lung disease has increased, according to study findings.

Combination of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were superior to single- and other multiple-strain probiotics and helped reduced all-cause mortality in preterm, low-birthweight infants, according to a meta-analysis published in Gastroenterology.

Preterm and very low-birth-weight infants fed in faster and slower increments had comparable neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 24 months, according to findings from a randomized controlled trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

According to research published in The Journal of Pediatrics, during a recent 17-year period, 4% of infants with necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, or spontaneous intestinal perforation, or SIP, in one NICU had intestinal infection with cytomegalovirus.

Advances in science and medicine have dramatically improved the odds of survival for premature infants. However, these babies continue to face significant challenges, both immediately after birth and throughout their lives.