Red Blood Cell Transfusion is Not Associated with Necrotizing Enterocolitis: a Review of Consecutive Transfusions in a Tertiary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Overview

Journal J Pediatr

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2014 Jul 21

PMID 25039042

Citations 21

Authors

Matthew B Wallenstein

Yassar H Arain

Krista L Birnie

Jennifer Andrews

Jonathan P Palma

William E Benitz

Valerie Y Chock

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the association between red blood cell transfusion and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in a neonatal intensive care unit with liberal transfusion practices.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort study was conducted for all infants weighing <1500 g who received at least 1 packed red blood cell transfusion between January 2008 and June 2013 in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. The primary outcome was NEC, defined as Bell stage II or greater. The temporal association of NEC and transfusion was assessed using multivariate Poisson regression.

Results: The study sample included 414 very low birth weight infants who received 2889 consecutive red blood cell transfusions. Twenty-four infants (5.8%) developed NEC. Four cases of NEC occurred within 48 hours of a previous transfusion event. Using multivariate Poisson regression, we did not find evidence of a temporal association between NEC and transfusion (P = .32).

Conclusion: There was no association between NEC and red blood cell transfusion. Our results differ from previous studies and suggest that the association between NEC and transfusion may be contextual.

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