Growth and nutritional status of formula-fed infants aged 2-10 weeks in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Programme at the Dr George Mukhari Hospital, Gauteng, South Africa

[摘要] INTRODUCTION: Since the start of the Prevention of Mother-to-ChildTransmission (PMTCT) Programme at Dr George Mukhari Hospital in2001, there has been no evaluation of the effect of formula feeding on thegrowth and dietary intakes of enrolled infants.AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the short-term growth,anthropometry and dietary intake of infants from two to ten weeks of agewere entered into the PMTCT Programme at the Department of HumanNutrition at Dr George Mukhari Hospital from two to ten weeks of age.METHODS: This was a descriptive, longitudinal (eight weeks duration)study. Anthropometric assessment including length and headcircumference was performed at two weeks of age and thereafter at tenweeks of age. Weight measurement was performed at age two weeks(visit 1), six weeks (visit 2) and ten weeks (visit 3). Anthropometricmeasurements were compared with CDC 20003 growth charts. Feedingpractices and dietary intake (24 hour diet recall interview) were assessedat each of the four week interval visits and evaluated according to theDRIs59. At the third visit, a socio-demographic interview and a usual foodintake interview were performed.RESULTS: A total of 151 [male (N = 75) and female (N = 76)] infantscompleted the study. A total of 110 (72%) mothers resided in theSoshanguve area and 138 (91%) of the mothers had attended high school.The majority (75%) of mothers was not generating an income fromemployment. Generally, mothers had access to safe drinking water and all(99%) but two mothers used pre-boiled water before preparing infantformula. The accuracy and correctness of reconstituting infant formuladecreased with each visit as feeds were increasingly made too dilute. Atotal of 124 (82%) infants were exclusively formula fed. The remainderreceived water, water with sugar and/or complementary feeds. Meanenergy and macronutrient intakes of both males (N = 65, 87%) and females (N = 61, 80%) were below recommendations at age two weeks.Of all the macronutrients, fats were consumed the least by both males (N =67, 89%) and females (N = 66, 87%) at visit 1. Catch up growth wasevident and nutrient intakes improved as the study progressed. The meanweight gain of all infants from visit 1 to 2 was 1.2 (SD 0.3) kg and 0.9 (SD0.3) kg from visit 2 to 3 (exceeding the CDC 20003 recommendation forboth male and female infants). The incidence of underweight, wasting andhead circumference-for-age below the third percentile decreased from visit1 to 3, but the number of stunted infants increased towards visit 3. Themajority of infants in this study grew well in their first ten weeks of life.Growth accelerated as infants became older and growth faltering improvedby ten weeks of age.CONCLUSION: Overall, the growth of the infants referred to the PMTCTProgramme at the Department of Human Nutrition at Dr George MukhariHospital would appear to be adequate but mothers' approach to formulafeeding practices needs to be improved in some aspects of feeding theirinfants.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University