The Frequency of Packed Red Blood Cells Transfusion in Preterm Infants Admitted to NICU of Shahid Sadoughi Hospital During 2016

Background: Red blood cells transfusion is a useful practice for preterm infants. Large amount of blood is usually wasted in the infants. Considering that few studies have been carried out on infants, the aim of current study was to investigate the frequency of packed red blood cells transfusion in preterm infants admitted to NICU of Shahid Sadoughi Hospital in Yazd during 2016 Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive-analytical study was conducted on infants admitted to Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Shahid Sadoughi Hospital, Yazd, Iran during 2016. Variables including fetal age, sex, birth weight, delivery method, Apgar score, infant status, premature birth complications and transfusion information were extracted from medical records of patients. Results: Current study was conducted on 335 premature infants. Among them, 85 cases were received packed red blood cells transfusion (25.4%). Of the infants receiving packed red blood cells, 59 cases (69.4%) were alive and 26 (30.6%) dead. Distribution of preterm complications in infants including respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, respiratory failure and Pneumothorax was observed in 66 (77.6%), 19(22.4%), 52(61.2%) and 14 patients (16.5%), respectively. There was significant difference between mean age and mean Apgar score in terms of transfusion (p