%0 Journal Article %J Acta Paediatr %D 2018 %T Duration of anaemia during the first week of life is an independent risk factor for retinopathy of prematurity %A Lundgren, Pia %A Athikarisamy, Sam E %A Patole, Sanjay %A Lam, Geoffrey C %A Smith, Lois E %A Simmer, Karen %X AIM: This study evaluated the correlation between retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), anaemia and blood transfusions in extremely preterm infants. METHODS: We included 227 infants born below 28 weeks of gestation at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Perth, Australia, from 2014-2016. Birth characteristics and risk factors for ROP were retrieved, and anaemia and severe anaemia were defined as a haemoglobins of <110 g/L and <80 g/L, respectively. Logistic regression was used for the analysis. RESULTS: Retinopathy of prematurity treatment was needed in 11% of cases and the mean number of blood transfusions (p < 0.01), and mean number of weeks of anaemia (p < 0.001) and of severe anaemia (p < 0.05), had positive associations with ROP cases warranting treatment. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, the best-fit model of risk factors included anaemic days during first week of life, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.46% and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.16-1.83 (p < 0.05), sepsis during the first 4 weeks of life (OR 3.14, 95% CI 1.10-9.00, p < 0.05) and days of ventilation (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.06, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The duration of anaemia during the first week of life was an independent risk factor for ROP warranting treatment and preventing early anaemia may decrease this risk. %B Acta Paediatr %V 107 %P 759-766 %8 2018 May %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29243312?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1111/apa.14187