1. The age of necrotizing enterocolitis onset: an application of Sartwell's incubation period model.
- Author
-
González-Rivera, R., Culverhouse, R. C., Hamvas, A., Tarr, P. I., and Warner, B. B.
- Subjects
- *
AGING , *COMPUTER software , *NEONATAL necrotizing enterocolitis , *GESTATIONAL age , *MATHEMATICAL models , *RESEARCH funding , *STATISTICS , *THEORY , *DATA analysis , *RETROSPECTIVE studies - Abstract
Objective:Model age of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) onset applying Sartwell's model of incubation periods, and examine its relationship to gestational age (GA).Study Design:Retrospective chart review of St Louis Children's Hospital neonates diagnosed with NEC (Bell's stage II) from 2004 to 2008, inclusive.Result:The relationship between age of NEC (N=84 cases) onset and GA best fits a non-linear model, with infants 28 weeks having a disproportionately longer time to onset than older GA groups and explained 50.3% of the variability in age of NEC onset. Additional clinical variables provided no improvement in explaining age of NEC onset. Application of Sartwell's model to age of NEC onset proved a good fit, when birth is used as the common exposure episode, and age is equivalent of the incubation period.Conclusion:The relationship between day of NEC diagnosis and GA is non-linear, with lower GA infants having disproportionately longer time to onset. Despite these GA differences, the fit to Sartwell's model for incubation periods model is consistent with NEC being a consequence of an event that occurs at or soon after birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF