Short-Term Blood Transfusion Outcomes in Preterm Infants admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU): A Retrospective Analytical Study

Abstract

Background: Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in preterm infants have been associated with increased risk of short-term morbidities, as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Aim of work: To study the relationship between RBC transfusions and short-term morbidities in preterm infants. Patients and Methods: Retrospectively, the relationship between RBC transfusions, number of transfusions and short-term morbidities were investigated in the first week and month over two years from 1st March 2018 to 29th February, 2020. One hundred sixty-one preterm infants were included: 91 females and 70 males who were ≤ 32 weeks of gestation and 1500 grams. Results: First week transfusions significantly correlated with the incidence and severity of ROP and BPD (P-value 0.012 & 0.014 for ROP) and (P-value  0.001 for the incidence and severity of BPD) and only the incidence of NEC and ICH regardless of the number of transfusions (P-value Conclusion:RBCs transfusion should be limited to the extremely indicated preterm infants especially in the first month of life. Conclusions: RBCs transfusion should be limited to the extremely indicated preterm infants especially in the first month of life with special emphasis on the first week with close follow up of transfusion associated morbidities like NEC, ROP, BPD and ICH.