The effect of gestational age on the development of necrotizing enterocolitis

Over the past 10 years, 208 children with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) were under our treatment. The control group consisted of 50 children whose gestational age was approximately similar to the main group. A case-control study was conducted to determine the role of gestational age in the development of NEC. 89 (42.8%) children with NEC and gestational age from 30 to 36 weeks compared with 22 children from the control group of the same gestational age had significantly lower percentiles of birth weight, umbilical cord pH and 1 -minute Apgar score. In contrast, there were no significant differences between 98 (47.1%) NEC and control children (n=24) aged 25-29 weeks, except that few children with NEC received breast milk. The 21 term infants in the main and 5 infants in the control group appeared to have an obvious predisposing factor. The study showed that the predisposition to NEC depends on gestational age. In the range of 25-29 weeks, all babies are at risk due to extreme prematurity. In the 30-36 week range, asphyxia and stunted infants are at increased risk, while at full term a major predisposing factor appears to be required.