Notice: You are viewing an unstyled version of this page. Are you using a very old browser? If so, please consider upgrading


I2S2 - Iodine supplementation trial - iodine supplementation for premature babies

Principal investigators
Fiona Williams (University of Dundee), Peter Brocklehurst (NPEU)
Collaborators
Peter Willatts (University of Dundee), Theo Visser (Erasmus University, Brussels, Belgium), Simon Ogston (University of Dundee), Robert Hume (University of Dundee)
Topics
Care of the preterm or low birthweight infant, Preterm birth
Funder
Economic and Social Research Council
Start year
2009
End year
2015

Summary

Cerebral damage and neurodisability are common among extremely preterm infants who survive, and there are about 7,000 such infants born each year in the UK. The aetiology of this cerebral damage and neurodisability is multifactorial, and is associated with a number of factors including hypothyroxinaemia. Thyroid hormone is essential for normal development of the human brain in utero and for the first two years after birth; damage through deficiency of thyroxine is irreversible. Transient hypothyroxinaemia in preterm infants is common and studies have linked low plasma T4 in preterm infants with later neurodevelopmental deficits in motor and cognitive function. Iodine is essential for the synthesis of T4. Mild and moderate deficiencies of iodine are associated with neuropsychointellectual deficits in infants and children.

Funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and designed in collaboration with the University of Dundee, the I2S2 trial is a multi-centre randomised controlled trial of iodine supplementation in extreme preterm infants. It aims to answer whether iodine supplementation of parenterally or enterally extremely preterm fed infants can improve neurodevelopmental outcome at 2 years corrected age.

Publications

Journal Articles