Morbidity and mortality among “big” babies who develop necrotizing enterocolitis: A prospective multicenter cohort analysis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is classically a disease of prematurity, with less reported regarding morbidity and mortality of this disease among other infants. Data were prospectively collected from 2009 to 2015 at 252 Vermont Oxford Network member centers on neonates with birth weight>2500g admitted to a participating NICU within 28days of birth. Of 1629 neonates with NEC, gestational age was 37 (36, 39) weeks, and 45% had major congenital anomalies, most commonly gastrointestinal defects (20%), congenital heart defects (18%), and chromosomal anomalies (7%). For the 23% of infants who had surgery for NEC, mortality and length of stay were 23% and 63 (36, 94) days versus 8% and 34 (22, 61) days in medical NEC. Independent predictors of mortality were congenital heart defects (p