Episodes of apnea, desaturation and bradycardia and the development of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants: a case-control study

Objective: To investigate for any association between episodes of apnea, desaturation and bradycardia and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Methods: Case-control study in infants of gestational age < 30 weeks. For each NEC case we selected two controls. During the period from 2001 to 2007, data were extracted from the nurse's notes of the patient's medical records. A p < 0.05 was statistically significant. Results: A total of 38 out of 394 infants had NEC (9.6%). There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the 2 groups, except for a lower proportion of infants who were receiving breast milk in the NEC group (p = 0.02). There was no difference in the overall number of apneas & bradycardias or severe episodes of desaturation & bradycardia between the 2 groups. Conclusion: No association between episodes of apnea, severe desaturations or bradycardia and development of NEC was observed in this preterm population.