Single-center Evaluation of Human Milk Quantity and Quality Over Five Years

Overview

This single-center retrospective observational study includes all human milk donors collaborating with the milk bank at České Budějovice Hospital between 2021 and 2025. Using anonymized data extracted from the hospital database, the study will quantify the frequency of donations and the individual and cumulative volume of donated human milk and will assess the impact of key maternal and perinatal factors - including age, BMI, parity, mode of delivery, and timing of donations - on the quantity and quality of donated milk, based on routine biochemical and microbiological parameters.

Donor human milk is a key component of nutritional care for preterm and high-risk neonates when mother's own milk is unavailable or insufficient. A better under-standing of which factors are associated with higher or lower donated volumes, and with favorable biochemical and microbiological milk characteristics, may help optimize several aspects of milk bank practice. This study aims to characterize a five-year experience from a single hospital-based human milk bank in terms of donation pat-terns and donated milk volume. It also aims to evaluate the relationship between key maternal and perinatal characteristics and both the quantity and routinely assessed quality of donated human milk.

Conditions

Interventions