Document Type

Article

Journal Title

Nutrients

Publication Date

12-1-2012

Volume

4

Abstract

Nutrition support practitioners are currently dealing with shortages of parenteral nutrition micronutrients, including multivitamins (MVI), selenium and zinc. A recent survey from the American Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition (ASPEN) indicates that this shortage is having a profound effect on clinical practice. A majority of respondents reported taking some aggressive measures to ration existing supplies. Most premature infants and many infants with congenital anomalies are dependent on parenteral nutrition for the first weeks of life to meet nutritional needs. Because of fragile health and poor reserves, they are uniquely susceptible to this problem. It should be understood that shortages and rationing have been associated with adverse outcomes, such as lactic acidosis and Wernicke encephalopathy from thiamine deficiency or pulmonary and skeletal development concerns related to inadequate stores of Vitamin A and D. In this review, we will discuss the current parenteral shortages and the possible impact on a population of very low birth weight infants. This review will also present a case study of a neonate who was impacted by these current shortages.

MeSH Headings

Congenital Abnormalities, Deficiency Diseases, Epigenesis, Genetic, Hospitalization, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Newborn, Diseases, Infant, Premature, Infant, Premature, Diseases, Infant, Very Low Birth Weight, Micronutrients, Nutritional Requirements, Parenteral Nutrition Solutions, Parenteral Nutrition, Total

ISSN

2072-6643

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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