A routine probiotic given through a feeding tube was associated with a 51 percent lower risk of necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants, according to a Dutch study published this week in JAMA Network Open. Necrotizing enterocolitis, usually shortened to NEC, is a sudden and often fatal intestinal disease and a major cause of illness and death among very premature babies.
The finding is meaningful for a condition with few prevention options. It also comes with a complication that parents and clinicians need to see up front rather than at the end: deaths from causes other than NEC were higher among the infants who received the probiotic.
