• Haresh Kirpalani, Edward F Bell, Susan R Hintz, Sylvia Tan, Barbara Schmidt, Aasma S Chaudhary, Karen J Johnson, Margaret M Crawford, Jamie E Newman, Betty R Vohr, Waldemar A Carlo, Carl T D'Angio, Kathleen A Kennedy, Robin K Ohls, Brenda B Poindexter, Kurt Schibler, Robin K Whyte, John A Widness, ZupancicJohn A FJAFFrom the Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia (H.K., B.S., A.S.C.); the Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City (E.F.B., K.J.J., J.A.W.); the Departm, Myra H Wyckoff, William E Truog, Michele C Walsh, Valerie Y Chock, Abbot R Laptook, Gregory M Sokol, Bradley A Yoder, Ravi M Patel, C Michael Cotten, Melissa F Carmen, Uday Devaskar, Sanjay Chawla, Ruth Seabrook, Rosemary D Higgins, Abhik Das, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD Neonatal Research Network.
• From the Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia (H.K., B.S., A.S.C.); the Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City (E.F.B., K.J.J., J.A.W.); the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto (S.R.H., V.Y.C.), and the Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles (U.D.) - both in California; the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Division, RTI International, Research Triangle Park (S.T., M.M.C.), and the Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham (C.M.C.) - both in North Carolina; the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Division, RTI International, Rockville (J.E.N., A.D.), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda (R.D.H.) - both in Maryland; the Department of Pediatrics, Women and Infants Hospital, Brown University, Providence, RI (B.R.V., A.R.L.); the Division of Neonatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham (W.A.C.); the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY (C.T.D., M.F.C.); the Department of Pediatrics, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston (K.A.K.), and the Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas (M.H.W.); the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque (R.K.O.); the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City (R.K.O., B.A.Y.); the Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis (B.B.P., G.M.S.); Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati (B.B.P., K.S.), the Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland (M.C.W.), and Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus (R.S.); the Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada (R.K.W.); the Department of Neonatology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston (J.A.F.Z.); the Department of Pediatrics, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO (W.E.T.); Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta (R.M.P.); the Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Detroit (S.C.); and the College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (R.D.H.).
• N. Engl. J. Med. 2020 Dec 31; 383 (27): 2639-2651.

BackgroundLimited data suggest that higher hemoglobin thresholds for red-cell transfusions may reduce the risk of cognitive delay among extremely-low-birth-weight infants with anemia.MethodsWe performed an open, multicenter trial in which infants with a birth weight of 1000 g or less and a gestational age between 22 weeks 0 days and 28 weeks 6 days were randomly assigned within 48 hours after delivery to receive red-cell transfusions at higher or lower hemoglobin thresholds until 36 weeks of postmenstrual age or discharge, whichever occurred first. The primary outcome was a composite of death or neurodevelopmental impairment (cognitive delay, cerebral palsy, or hearing or vision loss) at 22 to 26 months of age, corrected for prematurity.ResultsA total of 1824 infants (mean birth weight, 756 g; mean gestational age, 25.9 weeks) underwent randomization. There was a between-group difference of 1.9 g per deciliter (19 g per liter) in the pretransfusion mean hemoglobin levels throughout the treatment period. Primary outcome data were available for 1692 infants (92.8%). Of 845 infants in the higher-threshold group, 423 (50.1%) died or survived with neurodevelopmental impairment, as compared with 422 of 847 infants (49.8%) in the lower-threshold group (relative risk adjusted for birth-weight stratum and center, 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92 to 1.10; P = 0.93). At 2 years, the higher- and lower-threshold groups had similar incidences of death (16.2% and 15.0%, respectively) and neurodevelopmental impairment (39.6% and 40.3%, respectively). At discharge from the hospital, the incidences of survival without severe complications were 28.5% and 30.9%, respectively. Serious adverse events occurred in 22.7% and 21.7%, respectively.ConclusionsIn extremely-low-birth-weight infants, a higher hemoglobin threshold for red-cell transfusion did not improve survival without neurodevelopmental impairment at 22 to 26 months of age, corrected for prematurity. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; TOP ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01702805.).Copyright © 2020 Massachusetts Medical Society.

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