THE UREA CLEARANCE OF YOUNG PREMATURE AND FULL TERM INFANTS 12

Abstract
The 24-hr. plasma clearance of urea was detd. in 35 observations on 15 premature infants and in 12 observations on 9 full term infants ranging in age from 8 to 65 and from 7 to 73 days, respectively. The urea clearance was lower in premature infants (avg. 15.33 cc/sq.m./min.; range 8.5 to 24.1) than in full term infants (avg. 21.0 cc/sq.m./min.; range 13.8 to 31.3), and in both groups of young infants it was lower than that reported for older subjects. In individual infants a striking rise occurred in clearance with increasing age. No relation was found to exist between urine flow and urea clearance.