Percentiles of Lymphocyte Subsets in Preterm Infants According to Gestational Age Compared to Children and Adolescents.

Preterm newborns show an increased susceptibility to infections, conceivably related to their immature immune system. To gain further knowledge about the immune development in early preterm infants, we aimed to establish references for lymphocyte subsets and compare the maturation process during hospitalization to healthy term-born children and adolescents. For this purpose, peripheral blood samples (n = 153) were collected from 40 preterm infants, gestational age (GA) 26-30 week between 2nd and 6th day of life, and were monitored in intervals of every 2 or rather 4 weeks until the end of hospitalization.

Immune cell subsets at birth may help to predict risk of late-onset sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants.

Background: Parameters predicting late-onset sepsis (LOS) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants would be valuable. Ten-color flow-cytometry enables the estimation of cellular immune status requiring only small sample volumes.

Aims: Identifying predictive parameters for LOS and NEC in the cellular immune status of preterm infants.