Table 5 A summary of five on-going studies

Location of study

Australia

Colombia

USA

Australia

USA

Participants - inclusion criteria

<32 weeks gestation, <1500 g birth weight, 1–3 days old

Birth weight <2000 grams, < 48 hours of age, admission in NICU, Hemodynamic-ally stable

Extremely Low Birth weight infants: < 1000 grams, 1 to 14 old, intention to start enteral feeds

32 weeks Gestation and 6 days, <1500g birth weight, ready to commence on enteral feeds for up to 12 hours

< 500grams birth weight, age less than 33 weeks gestation, exclusively formula fed

Probiotic bacteria used

Bifidobacteriuminfantis, BifidobacteriumBifidus, Streptococcus thermophilus

Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Bifidobacteriuminfantis

Lactobacillus acidophilus 375 million, bifidobacteriumbifidum, bifidobacteria longus

1. ProlactPlus

2. GOS

3. Bifidobacteriuminfantis

4. Bifidobacteriumanimalis

Dose

1X10⁹

1X108 CFU in 5 drops of oil suspension 1/ day until discharge.

L rhamnosus: 500 million cfu, B.infantis: 500 million cfu

L. acidophilus:375 m organisms, B bifidum, B. longus: 125 million organisms

1. week 1 95:5 to week 5 75:25

2. week: 0.25g/dL, to week 5: 2.0 g/dL

3. week 1: 5X10⁷, to week 5: 4.2 X10⁹

4. week 1: 5X10⁷, to week 5: 4.2 X10⁹

Start date of study

July- 2007

August 2008

February 2008

June 2009

June 2009

Reported Outcomes

Sepsis,

Sepsis

Average weight gain

Sepsis

Fecal microflora

NEC

NEC

Growth velocity

NEC

Death

Death

Feed tolerance

All-cause mortality

Frequency of events

Volume of feed/day

Time to reach full feeds (150 mls/kg/day)

Length of hospital admission

Gut colonisation by probiotic

Number of antibiotic courses

Days to full enteral feeds