Iron, Plasma Antioxidants, and the 'Oxygen Radical Disease of Prematurity'

Prooxidant Effects of Maternal Smoking and Formula in Newborn Infants

“…Longitudinal studies would be of interest, as would inclusion of other measures of oxidant stress status. However, our data agree with the conclusions of Sullivan (1) that a positive effect of neonatal antioxidant protection could be yet another of the many benefits of breast milk feeding.…”

The association between red blood cell transfusion timing and the development of retinopathy of prematurity: Application of the two‐phase theory

“…Interestingly, opposite results were found in a study by Uberos et al, but this may be due to their limited confounder adjustment and sample size of severe ROP (n = 50) (Uberos et al, 2023). Adult RBC transfusions contribute to retinal hyperoxia and lead to increased free iron and oxygen radicals, which can cause irreversible damage to the retina, red blood cells, brain, and lungs, and could explain the association found in our study (Sullivan, 1988;Torres-Cuevas et al, 2019;El Emrani et al, 2024). Neonates with severe ROP generally have more respiratory instability that may result in much lower and more fluctuating retinal oxygen levels compared to mild ROP.…”

Blood transfusion

“…transfusion volume was more closely associated with the development of ROP than ferritin or transferrin levels. Hence, the hypothesis put forward by Sullivan [24], namely that diseases such as ROP``should occur signi®cantly more frequently in those infants with high transferrin saturation and/or high ferritin levels'', could not be con®rmed in this study. This cannot imply, however, that oxygen radicals or, more speci®cally, increased free iron levels do not play a role in the pathogenesis of ROP, particularly as other markers for an increased hydroxyl radical activity such as malondialdehyde could not be analysed in this study.…”