Towards evidence based medicine for paediatricians. Arch Dis

Do feeding practices during transfusion influence the risk of developing necrotising enterocolitis in preterm infants? SCENARIO An otherwise well 4-week-old 28-week gestation male infant has a haemoglobin level of 69 g/l associated with a low reticulocyte count. He is currently on full enteral feeds. The medical plan is to give him a blood transfusion, but the nursing staff ask whether feeding should be stopped around the time of transfu-sion to reduce his chance of developing complications. What is the evidence that feeding practices during transfusion influence the risk of developing transfusion-associated necrotising entero-colitis (TANEC)? STRUCTURED CLINICAL QUESTION In a preterm infant [patient] with anaemia of prematurity, do feeding practices [intervention] during blood transfusion reduce the risk of developing TANEC [outcome]