A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 16 studies with a total of 1 251preterm infants. The trials (11 studies) that compared feeding infants with "post-discharge formula" (energy density about 74 kcal/100 ml) versus standard term formula (about 67 kcal/100 ml) did not find consistent evidence of effects on growth parameters up to 12 to 18 months corrected age. The trials (5 studies, n=366) that compared feeding with "preterm formula" (about 80 kcal/100 ml) versus term formula found some evidence of higher rates of growth through infancy: WMD at 12 to 18 months corrected age about 500 g in weight, 5 to10 mm in length, and 5 mm in head circumference. Few trials assessed neurodevelopmental outcomes and these did not detect any statistically significant differences in developmental indices at 18 months corrected age.There are not yet any data on growth or development through later childhood.
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by by limitations in study quality (unclear allocation concealment and high loss to follow-up in relation to observed absolute effect), and by inconsistency (unexplained variability in results).
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