Preterm Neonatal Trophic Feeding Initiation in Tigray Hospitals

193 preterm neonates were followed for 8,382 person-hours of risk time in a prospective follow-up study at Neonatal Intensive Care Units in public hospitals in Ethiopia's Tigray region. The data, collected from December 2024 to February 2025, tracks the time to initiation of trophic feeding and associated predictors like birth weight and APGAR scores. 89.6% of neonates (173) were initiated on trophic feeding, with a median initiation time of 45 hours.

Use Cases

• Analyze the association between birth weight (<1500 grams) and the adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) for delay in trophic feeding initiation.
• Model the impact of APGAR scores at first and fifth minutes (<7) on the time to feeding initiation using survival analysis techniques.
• Investigate the relationship between the presence of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and the incidence rate of initiating trophic feeding (2 per 100 person-hours).
• Assess the effect of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) absence as a predictor for delayed feeding using the reported AHR of 0.41.

Strengths

• Data covers 193 preterm neonates with 8,382 person-hours of detailed clinical follow-up.
• Study design is prospective and institutional-based, following participants from admission.
• Analysis includes specific, statistically significant predictors (e.g., birth weight, APGAR scores) with reported Adjusted Hazard Ratios and confidence intervals.

Limitations

• Small sample size of 193 neonates limits generalizability of findings.
• Geographic scope is restricted to public hospitals in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
• Data collection period was brief, spanning only approximately 2.5 months from late 2024 to early 2025.

Provenance

Source

Prospective study conducted in Neonatal Intensive Care Units of public hospitals.

Collection Method

Institutional-based follow-up study using systematic random sampling; data entered into Epi-Data and analyzed with STATA.

Time Range

Data collection from December 20, 2024, to February 30, 2025.

Freshness

Data was last updated in March 2026 and covers events through February 2025.

Geography

Tigray region, Ethiopia.