STTR Phase I: An Integrated Biomedical Platform and Custom Algorithm to Optimize Feeding Protocols for Preterm Infants

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project improves outcomes for preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). On average 518,000 preterm infants are born in the US each year and 49% experience difficulty feeding after discharge. Preterm infants who cannot successfully feed are at increased risk of hospital readmission. In the US, there are 22,721 NICU beds and the average length of stay for an infant born less than 32 weeks gestation is 13.2 days. The current practice is for babies to remain longer in the NICU at an average cost of $7,000 per day and a national cost of more than $26 billion a year. This project advances a new feeding monitoring system. An estimated 2-day reduction in length of stay with this device will lower the financial cost of overall neonatal healthcare expenditure by $8.9 billion annually and will reduce the need for future medical interventions because infants are discharged with a stronger early-stage health baseline. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project advances NICU care. For infants admitted to the NICU, successful oral feeding is a prerequisite for discharge home, but preterm infants often struggle with oral feeding skills, due to problems coordinating swallowing with breathing. Achieving safe and efficient oral feeding in preterm infants is challenging because of these neurodevelopmental immaturities. Feeding progress is therefore limited by difficulties in maintaining cardiorespiratory stability. The proposed biomedical platform and clinical algorithm interface uses big data describing breathing patterns to quantify the synchronization of breathing and swallowing. A precise method of measuring infant breathing patterns during feeding gives clinicians a diagnostic tool to better inform decisions related to feeding advancement. This device provides objective metrics of feeding success and discharge readiness. It will result in decreased readmissions for failure to thrive, substantially reducing healthcare utilizations and post-discharge expenditures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.