OUTCOME AT 3 YEARS OF SICK NEONATES INVOLVED IN A DOUBLE-BLIND TRIAL OF 2 PARENTERAL AMINO-ACID PREPARATIONS

The authors investigated the hypothesis that neonates who received a p arenteral amino acid preparation causing high plasma amino acid levels in the first week of life would perform less well at follow-up than t hose who received a preparation in which the plasma aminogram fell per sistently within the normal range. 27 surviving children who had recei ved either preparation as neonates underwent psychometric assessment a t three years. Parents completed three questionnaires about temperamen t, behaviour screening and socio-economic status. Four of 10 patients who had received one preparation and two of 17 infants who had receive d the other were of below-average intelligence. This may be related to the different amino acids in the mixtures and the hyperaminoacidaemia caused by this.