Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Oct;165(4):678-82.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.06.012. Epub 2014 Jul 16.

Red blood cell transfusion is not associated with necrotizing enterocolitis: a review of consecutive transfusions in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit

Matthew B Wallenstein  1 , Yassar H Arain  2 , Krista L Birnie  2 , Jennifer Andrews  3 , Jonathan P Palma  4 , William E Benitz  2 , Valerie Y Chock  2
Affiliations

Red blood cell transfusion is not associated with necrotizing enterocolitis: a review of consecutive transfusions in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit

Matthew B Wallenstein et al. J Pediatr. 2014 Oct.

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Stoll BJ. Epidemiology of necrotizing enterocolitis. Clin Perinatol. 1994;21:205–18. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Luig M, Lui K. Epidemiology of necrotizing enterocolitis, part II: risk and susceptibility of premature infants during the surfactant era: regional study. J Paediatr Child Health. 2005;41:174–9. - PubMed
    1. Holman RC, Stoll BJ, Clarke MJ, Glass RI. The epidemiology of necrotizing enterocolitis infant mortality in the United States. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:2026–31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berseth CL, Bisquera JA, Paje VU. Prolonging small feeding volumes early in life decreases the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis in very low birth weight infants. Pediatrics. 2003;111:529–34. - PubMed
    1. Kafetzis DA, Skevaki C, Costalos C. Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis: an overview. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2003;16:349–55. - PubMed