Time to initiate trophic feeding and predictors among preterm neonates admitted at General Hospitals in Tigray, 2025.

Back groundTrophic feeding generally refers to providing small quantities of enteral feeding soon after birth. As a result this study is aimed to assess time to initiation of TF and its predictors among preterm neonate in Tigray region. MethodA prospective, institutional-based follow-up study was conducted on 193 preterm neonates admitted to the Neonatal intensive care unit, with participants selected using systematic random sampling from a group of public hospitals. Data collection period was from December 20, 2024 to February 30, 2025. Data was entered into Epi data version 4.7 and then exported to STATA version 14 for cleaning and analysis. To compare survival curves, Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log-rank test was used, bivariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used, all statistical tests was considered significant at a p-value of <0.05. ResultA total of 193 neonates were followed for 8382 person-hours of risk time and 173 (89.6%) of neonates were initiated trophic feeding. The incidence rate of initiating trophic feeding was 2 per 100 person hours observations with a median time of 45 hours (95% CI: 42-56). Birth weight <1500 gram (AHR: 0.16,95% CI:0.075-0.35), APGAR score at first minute < 7 (AHR: 0.46,95% CI:0.26-0.76),APGAR score at fifth minute < 7 (AHR: 0.38,95%CI :0.21-0.68,, having respiratory distress syndrome (AHR: 0.41,95% CI:0.25-0.66, and absence of Kangaroo mother care (AHR: 0.41,95% CI:0.21-0.77), were statistically Significant associated factors for the delay of initiation of trophic feeding. ConclusionIn this study, a significant delay in the initiation time of trophic feeding and several predictors were identified. Therefore, health institutions should work on these predictors to shorten the initiation time and reduce complications associated with the delay.