Pancreatic supplementation for premature babies [letter].

For some time now we have been using a screening test for 
cystic fibrosis based on levels of stool trypsin and chymotrypsin on 
the fourth day of life. One interesting observation is the number 
of premature babies who have little or no pancreatic trypsin or 
chymotrypsin at this time. For example, of the babies tested from 
St. Helen's Maternity Hospital between June, 1974, and April, 1975, 84 
were classified as premature in the birth-records book. Samples were received 
for only 65 of these babies. Of these 65 babies, 26 
(40%) had stool-trypsin levels of <100 microg. per g. compared with 
only 2.5% of the other babies tested during this period. As 
may be expected, the lower-birth-weight babies tend to have lower stool-enzyme 
concentrations. We feel that our data indicate that at least some 
premature babies would benefit from pancreatic-enzyme supplementation or predigested foods in 
the first few days after birth. 