VITAMIN-A SUPPLEMENTATION IN PREMATURE NEONATES WITH POSTNATAL LUNG INJURY

Vitamin A is widely used in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to pr event and reduce lung injury in premature infants who require mechanic al ventilation. As part of a project to assess the management in NICU, this study was designed to establish whether vitamin A supplementatio n in neonates at risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) increased a nd maintained their plasma levels to at least 20 mu g/dl. Twenty-five preterm babies, 24-34 weeks gestation, 600-1,770 g birth weight, recei ved 1,000 IU/day of vitamin A intravenously for the first 28 days of l ife. At birth the majority had plasma vitamin A lower than 20 mu g/dl which rapidly rose during supplementation. Even though expected therap eutic plasma concentrations were reached in the majority of infants wi thout exceeding the toxic level, no association was found between vita min A plasma concentrations and maternal or newborns characteristics a t delivery and clinical status or outcome of infants, Thus, even if do sage schedule may be furtherly optimized to reach and maintain wanted therapeutic ranges, the efficacy of routine therapeutic vitamin A supp lementation has to be adequately proved.