Impact of Blood Donor Sex on Transfusion-Related Outcomes in Preterm Infants

Objective Explore the role of red blood cell donor sex on preterm infant neonatal outcomes. Study design In a retrospective, exploratory, cohort study, the hospital blood bank database was queried for units of blood released to neonatal intensive care unit patients in 2009-2010. The state blood center provided donor sex, and a department database provided neonatal characteristics and morbidities. Comparisons were made for 2 groups: those who ever received female blood and those who did not. Results Among 462 infants 1 blood transfusion. In univariate analyses, compared with infants who received only male blood, infants who received female donor blood had higher rates of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (38% vs 22%; P  = .03), spontaneous intestinal perforation/necrotizing enterocolitis (17% vs 6%; P  = .04), and death or any morbidity (60% vs 38%; P P  = .0251) and 21 days longer hospitalization ( P  = .0098). After adding total number transfusions to the model, only an increased number of transfusions was associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia ( P  = .0009), any morbidity ( P  = .0001), and length of stay ( P  = .0001). In subset regressions comparing exclusively female donor blood with male donor blood, there was a significant interaction of female donor blood and number of transfusions for any morbidity (OR 2.6 95% CI 1.2-5.7, P  = .01). Conclusions Preliminary findings suggest that female donor blood was associated with preterm vulnerability to neonatal morbidities.