Transfusion-induced changes in the breathing pattern of healthy preterm anemic infants.

In order to evaluate the effects of transfusion on breathing pattern in growing, otherwise healthy, anemic preterm infants, we studied 14 infants whose mean +/- SD birthweight was 1,212 +/- 294 grams, gestational age 29.28 +/- 2.23 weeks and hematocrit 25.86 +/- 2.24%. At a mean postnatal age of 41.35 +/- 19.45 days 12 hour nocturnal (transthoracic impedance) pneumocardiograms were obtained 24 hours prior to and after transfusion with 10 mL/kg of packed red blood cells. Posttransfusion pneumocardiograms revealed significant reduction of periodic breathing, of apnea episodes with 11-15 second duration, of apnea density, and of heart rate. These findings indicate that transfusion with packed red blood cells significantly alters certain cardiorespiratory variables in anemic preterm infants.