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.