Associations between blood donor sex and age, and outcomes of transfused newborn infants.

Background: It is controversial whether the sex or age of red blood cell (RBC) donors affects mortality or morbidities of transfused newborn infants. We assessed these issues using a multi-year, multi-hospital database linking specific outcomes of neonatal transfusion recipients with RBC donor sex and age.

Study Design And Methods: We performed retrospective analyses of all neonates receiving ≥ one RBC transfusion during a 12-year period in all Intermountain Healthcare hospitals, matching mortality and specific morbidities of each transfusion recipient with the sex and age of each donor.

Platelet Transfusions in a Multi-Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Health Care Organization Before and After Publication of the PlaNeT-2 Clinical Trial.

Objectives: To evaluate whether implementing more restrictive neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) platelet transfusion guidelines following the Platelets for Neonatal Transfusion - Study 2 randomized controlled trial (transfusion threshold changed from 50 000/μL to 25 000/μL for most neonates) was associated with fewer NICU patients receiving a platelet transfusion, without adversely affecting outcomes.

Study Design: Multi-NICU retrospective analysis of platelet transfusions, patient characteristics, and outcomes during 3 years before vs 3 years after revising system-wide guidelines.

Results: During the first period, 130 neonates received 1 or more platelet transfusions; this fell to 106 during the second.