Oral vitamin E supplementation for the prevention of anemia in premature infants: a controlled trial.

Serum vitamin E levels are reduced in newborn infants. It has been reported that this deficiency is responsible, in part, for the development of anemia in premature infants during the first 6 weeks of life. The efficacy of vitamin E supplementation for the prevention of anemia in premature infants has been studied in a randomized, controlled, and blinded trial. Premature infants whose birth weights were less than 1,500 g were given, by gavage, 25 IU of dl-alpha-tocopherol or a similar volume of the drug vehicle. Treatment was continued for the first 6 weeks of life. A total of 178 infants were studied. Vitamin E levels were significantly higher in a supplemented group by day 3 and for the remainder of the 6-week period. At 6 weeks of age, there was no significant difference between the supplemented and unsupplemented groups in hemoglobin concentration, reticulocyte and platelet counts, or erythrocyte morphology. It is concluded that there is no evidence to support a policy of administering vitamin E to premature infants to prevent the anemia of prematurity.

• Publication year

  1987

• Venue

  Pediatrics

• Publication date

  1987-01-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1542/peds.79.1.61PMID 3540836
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No evidence supports administering oral vitamin E to premature infants to prevent anemia of prematurity.

  Confidence 0.96

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• At 6 weeks of age, oral vitamin E supplementation did not improve hemoglobin concentration relative to control in the anemia of prematurity setting.

  Confidence 0.95

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• Oral vitamin E supplementation raised serum vitamin E levels in premature infants by day 3 and kept them higher for the rest of the 6-week treatment period.

  Confidence 0.98

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review

• anemia of prematurity

  condition

  Anemia occurring in premature infants during the early postnatal period.

  Aliases: prematurity anemia

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• hemoglobin concentration

  outcome measure

  The blood hemoglobin measurement used to assess anemia status at 6 weeks of age.

  Aliases: Hb concentration

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• oral vitamin e supplementation

  treatment

  Administration of 25 IU dl-alpha-tocopherol by gavage for the first 6 weeks of life.

  Aliases: vitamin E supplementation, dl-alpha-tocopherol

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• premature infants

  population

  Infants born with birth weights below 1,500 g who were enrolled in the trial.

  Aliases: preterm infants, low-birth-weight infants

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• randomized controlled blinded trial

  study design

  A trial design with random assignment to supplementation or vehicle control and masked treatment conditions.

  Aliases: randomized, controlled, and blinded trial

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review
• serum vitamin e levels

  biomarker, measurement

  The measured concentration of vitamin E in infant serum during follow-up.

  Aliases: blood vitamin E levels

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) review

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