TY - JOUR T1 - Survey of transfusion practices in preterm infants in Europe JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition JO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324619 SP - fetalneonatal-2022-324619 AU - Alexandra Scrivens AU - Nora Johanna Reibel AU - Lisanne Heeger AU - Simon Stanworth AU - Enrico Lopriore AU - Helen V New AU - Christof Dame AU - Karin Fijnvandraat AU - Emöke Deschmann AU - Marta Aguar AU - Kristin Brække AU - Francesco Stefano Cardona AU - Filip Cools AU - Ryan Farrugia AU - Stefano Ghirardello AU - Jana Lozar AU - Katarina Matasova AU - Tobias Muehlbacher AU - Ulla Sankilampi AU - Henrique Soares AU - Miklos Szabo AU - Tomasz Szczapa AU - Gabriela Zaharie AU - Charles Christoph Roehr AU - Suzanne Fustolo-Gunnink A2 - , Y1 - 2023/01/18 UR - http://fn.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/18/archdischild-2022-324619.abstract N2 - Background Preterm infants commonly receive red blood cell (RBC), platelet and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusions. The aim of this Neonatal Transfusion Network survey was to describe current transfusion practices in Europe and to compare our findings to three recent randomised controlled trials to understand how clinical practice relates to the trial data.Methods From October to December 2020, we performed an online survey among 597 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) caring for infants with a gestational age (GA) of <32 weeks in 18 European countries.Results Responses from 343 NICUs (response rate: 57%) are presented and showed substantial variation in clinical practice. For RBC transfusions, 70% of NICUs transfused at thresholds above the restrictive thresholds tested in the recent trials and 22% below the restrictive thresholds. For platelet transfusions, 57% of NICUs transfused at platelet count thresholds above 25×109/L in non-bleeding infants of GA of <28 weeks, while the 25×109/L threshold was associated with a lower risk of harm in a recent trial. FFP transfusions were administered for coagulopathy without active bleeding in 39% and for hypotension in 25% of NICUs. Transfusion volume, duration and rate varied by factors up to several folds between NICUs.Conclusions Transfusion thresholds and aspects of administration vary widely across European NICUs. In general, transfusion thresholds used tend to be more liberal compared with data from recent trials supporting the use of more restrictive thresholds. Further research is needed to identify the barriers and enablers to incorporation of recent trial findings into neonatal transfusion practice.Data are available upon reasonable request. Data are available upon reasonable request by email to the corresponding and the senior author. ER -