ANALYSIS OF DROP-OUTS IN A LONGITUDINAL STUDY
The Spanish Sample of the” EU Childhood Obesity
Programme:Early Programming by Infant Nutrition (QLK1- 2001-00389”) (EPOC).
G. Méndez, V. Luque, F. Capdevila, J. Mariné, R. Closa, J. Escribano
Paediatrics Unit. Medical School. University Rovira i Virgili. Spain.
Objective: to describe the drop-outs which occurred during the first year of recruitment by the Spanish group of the EPOC, analyzing the timepoints and factors that contributed to them.
Material & methods: This is a prospective randomized multicentre study, that compares different feeding patterns (2 isocaloric infant formulae with different mm protein amounts and a breastfed control group). We will analyze formula-fed babies (FF) > 9 months, and breastfed babies (BF) > 6 months.
Results: We have 314 FF, 80 of them dropped out (25.5%), and 127 BF, 59 of them dropped out (46,5%). In both groups, the largest number of drop-outs occurred during the first month of life: 34 FF (42.5%), and 37 BF (62.7%). In the following months, the number of drop-outs was much lower. Most of the FF drop-outs were due to “parents’ no intention to continue” (33 babies, 41.3%).
The second most frequent reason was the abandonment of the study formula due to digestive disorders (23 cases, 28.8%). There are no significant differences between the two types of study formula in the distribution of drop-outs. In the BF group, there were 29 drop-outs due to breastfeeding cessation, and 29 BF dropped out due to “parents’ no intention to continue“ (49% in both cases).
Conclusions: According to our results, it would be very useful to intensify the adherence strategies during the first two months to minimize the drop-outs. The large number of drop-outs due to breastfeeding cessation along the first month of life, suggests that it would have been a better strategy to recruit for the project when the baby was one month old.
Key words: infant nutrition, obesity, longitudinal study, randomized controlled trial, drop-outs
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