Physical development and of gut microbiota in infants who experienced bowel resection within the first year of life

Abstract

I.V. Vakhlova1, G.V. Fedotova1, L.G. Boronina1, E.V. Samatova2 1Ural State Medical University, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation 2Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation Aim: to assess the rate of growth and metabolic activity of gut microbiota in infants who experienced bowel resection within the first year of life and received specialized nutrition with extensive hydrolyzed whey proteins with medium-chain triglycerides and nucleotides. Patients and Methods: prospective cohort study was conducted in two groups of infants. The study group included 37 infants with partial bowel resection within the first months of life. The control group included 75 healthy infants. Postoperatively, study group children were bottle-fed and received an infant formula (extensive hydrolized whey proteins with medium-chain triglycerides) till the age of 12 months. Some control group children were breast-fed while control group children on a mixed or formula feeding. In all children, antenatal and perinatal anamnesis and physical development within the first year of life were assessed. Additionally, the amounts of short-chain fatty acids in the stool were eva luated. Results: the rate of growth in infants who experienced bowel surgery was similar to that of healthy infants within the first year of life. By the age of 12 months, steady increase in the proportion of infants with average weight (SD -1 to +1) and significant reduction in the proportion of infants with low weight (SD -1 to -2) were reported. A group of overweight infants (SD +1 to +2) emerged since the age of 6 months. The specifics of metabolic activity of gut microbiota in children after surgery were a significant increase in propionic acid amount in the stool and a trend to an increase in anaerobic index by the age of 12 months. Conclusions: this growth pattern illustrates an adequate nutrition during the recovery of bowel functional activity and its ability to absorb and to uptake nutrients. Keywords: infants, specialized nutrition, physical development rate, bowel metabolic activity. For citation: Vakhlova I.V., Fedotova G.V., Boronina L.G., Samatova E.V. Physical development and of gut microbiota in infants who experienced bowel resection within the first year of life. Russian Journal of Woman and Child Health. 2021;4(2):155–161. DOI: 10.32364/2618-8430-2021-4-2-155-161.