[Early erythropoietin use for the prevention of anemia in infant premature].
BACKGROUND
Anemia is common among very low birth weight newborns and requires frequent blood transfusions. Erythropoietin was been reported to be useful in the prevention of this anemia.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the benefits of early (before the third week of life) Human recombinant Erythropoietin (r-EPO) administration to reduce the requirement of blood transfusions in very low birth weight newborns.


METHODS
Sixty newborns under 1500 g of birthweight were randomly assigned to receive r-EPO (n = 29) or placebo (n = 31) three times per week, during four weeks. Packed red cell volume and reticulocyte counts were measured weekly. Serum erythropoietin was measured prior to eighth dose. Transfusion requirements were recorded.


RESULTS
r-EPO reduced transfusions from 1.41 +/- 1.1 to 0.69 +/- 1 transfusions/newborns (p < 0.001). At the fourth week of treatment, reticulocyte count was 14.8 +/- 7 and 6.4 +/- 4.9% in the active treatment group and placebo group respectively (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
r-EPO reduces the requirement of transfusions in low birth weight infants.
Químico Farmacéutico, Hospital Dr. Gustavo Fricke, Viña del Mar-Chile. salvado@entelchile.net
A
A
Salvadó
P
P
Ramolfo
M
M
Escobar
A
A
Núñez
I
I
Aguayo
J
J
Standen
L
L
Sánchez
A
A
Cabello
D000751:Anemia, Neonatal / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013997:Time Factors
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin