Browsing by Author "Seabrook, Ruth"

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    Higher or Lower Hemoglobin Transfusion Thresholds for Preterm Infants
    (Massachusetts Medical Society, 2020-12-01) Kirpalani, Haresh; Bell, Edward F.; Hintz, Susan R.; Tan, Sylvia; Schmidt, Barbara; Chaudhary, Aasma S.; Johnson, Karen J.; Crawford, Margaret M.; Newman, Jamie E.; Vohr, Betty R.; Carlo, Waldemar A.; D'Angio, Carl T.; Kennedy, Kathleen A.; Ohls, Robin K.; Poindexter, Brenda B.; Schibler, Kurt; Whyte, Robin K.; Widness, John A.; Zupancic, John A.F.; Wyckoff, Myra H.; Truog, William E.; Walsh, Michele C.; Chock, Valerie Y.; Laptook, Abbot R.; Sokol, Gregory M.; Yoder, Bradley A.; Patel, Ravi M.; Cotten, C. Michael; Carmen, Melissa F.; Devaskar, Uday; Chawla, Sanjay; Seabrook, Ruth; Higgins, Rosemary D.; Das, Abhik; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Limited data suggest that higher hemoglobin thresholds for red-cell transfusions may reduce the risk of cognitive delay among extremely-low-birth-weight infants with anemia. Methods: We performed an open, multicenter trial in which infants with a birth weight of 1000 g or less and a gestational age between 22 weeks 0 days and 28 weeks 6 days were randomly assigned within 48 hours after delivery to receive red-cell transfusions at higher or lower hemoglobin thresholds until 36 weeks of postmenstrual age or discharge, whichever occurred first. The primary outcome was a composite of death or neurodevelopmental impairment (cognitive delay, cerebral palsy, or hearing or vision loss) at 22 to 26 months of age, corrected for prematurity. Results: A total of 1824 infants (mean birth weight, 756 g; mean gestational age, 25.9 weeks) underwent randomization. There was a between-group difference of 1.9 g per deciliter (19 g per liter) in the pretransfusion mean hemoglobin levels throughout the treatment period. Primary outcome data were available for 1692 infants (92.8%). Of 845 infants in the higher-threshold group, 423 (50.1%) died or survived with neurodevelopmental impairment, as compared with 422 of 847 infants (49.8%) in the lower-threshold group (relative risk adjusted for birth-weight stratum and center, 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92 to 1.10; P = 0.93). At 2 years, the higher- and lower-threshold groups had similar incidences of death (16.2% and 15.0%, respectively) and neurodevelopmental impairment (39.6% and 40.3%, respectively). At discharge from the hospital, the incidences of survival without severe complications were 28.5% and 30.9%, respectively. Serious adverse events occurred in 22.7% and 21.7%, respectively. Conclusions: In extremely-low-birth-weight infants, a higher hemoglobin threshold for red-cell transfusion did not improve survival without neurodevelopmental impairment at 22 to 26 months of age, corrected for prematurity.