Table 1.
Clinical and transfusion characteristics of 100 neonates included in the study.
| Gestational age at birth, weeks | 27.0 (25.0–28.3) |
| Male gender | 51 (51) |
| Twin | 21 (21) |
| Birth weight, grams | 795.0 (666.3–1,067.5) |
| Birth weight percentile | 52.3 (17.9–69.0) |
| Htc at birth, % | 45.5 (40.3–50.0) |
| Apgar score 1m | 5 (4–7) |
| Apgar score 5m | 8 (7–8) |
| Patent ductus arteriosus§ | 68 (68) |
| Intraventricular hemorrhage | 53 (53.0) |
| Documented infections | 46 (46.0) |
| Repeated documented infections | 25 (25.0) |
| Suspected infections | 47 (47.0) |
| Bronchopulmonary dysplasia* | 24 (33.3) |
| Invasive ventilation, days | 5.0 (0.0–13.5) |
| Non-invasive ventilation, days | 22.5 (4.3–51.0) |
| Oxygen supplementation, days | 17.0 (3.0–61.0) |
| ROP (all stages)* | 48 (66.6) |
| Stage I ROP* | 1 (1.3) |
| Stage II ROP* | 22 (30.5) |
| Stage III or higher ROP* | 25 (35.1) |
| Anti-VEGF therapy* | 17 (23.6) |
| Deaths | 33 (33) |
| Number of RBC units | 3 (1–6) |
| Postnatal day at first RBC unit | 5.5 (2.0–15.0) |
| Postmenstrual age at first RBC unit | 28.0 (26.0–29.9) |
| Two or more RBC units | 56 (56.0) |
| PLT transfusion | 23 (23) |
| FFP transfusion | 8 (8) |
Data are expressed as n (%) for categorical variables and median (IQR) for continuous variables.
Htc, central venous hematocrit; RBC, red blood cell; PLT, platelets; FFP, fresh frozen plasma; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; ROP, retinopathy of prematurity; IQR, interquartile range.
§
Patients with hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus are included.
*
Data on retinopathy and bronchopulmonary dysplasia are related to 72 evaluable neonates; ROP stage refers to the maximal stage observed.