Intracranial haemorrhage is linked to late onset vitamin K deficiency in infants aged 2-24 weeks.

AIM: Late vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) can be serious and manifest as early onset intracranial haemorrhage (ICH). This study aimed to determine the frequency of ICH in relation to vitamin K deficiency and the outcome in infants aged two to 24 weeks. METHOD: A hospital-based study was conducted in two main tertiary hospitals in Cairo, Egypt, from May 2011 to May 2012 with 40 patients with ICH and 50 age-matched controls without ICH. RESULTS: Forty patients with ICH were recruited, 19 were excluded for clinical reasons and the remaining 21 had a significantly low vitamin K level. Exclusive breast feeding (81% of patients), diarrhoea lasting more than 1 week (38.1%) and antibiotic consumption within a week before the development of ICH (57.1%) were more common in the patients than in the control group (p value>0.05, <0.01 and <0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: A high frequency of ICH due to late VKDB was reported in Egyptian infants aged two to 24 weeks, with poorer outcomes than international studies. A national survey is required to evaluate the timing and protective value of a second booster vitamin K dose to reduce ICH, especially in high-risk patients in this age group.

Risk Factors for Intracranial Hemorrhage Caused by Late Vitamin K Deficiency / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To explore the risk factors for intracranial hemorrhage caused by late vitamin K deficiency bleeding(VKDB),in order to prevent and reduce the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage caused by late VKDB.Methods A retrospective analysis of the risk factors of late VKDB and intracranial hemorrhage was applied to 2 groups of patients in PICU and department of neurology of Beijing children's Hospital from Jan.2002 to Dec.2007.In group Ⅰ,there were 90 patients suffering from intracranial hemorrhage caused by late VKDB;while in group Ⅱ,there were 23 patients of late VKDB without intracranial hemorrhage.Within 12 hours of hospitalization,the following 9 items were checked:the cranial CT,blood calcium concentration,liver function,serum sodium,blood glucose,prothrombin time,partial thromboplastin time,fibrinogen concentration,and platelet.Ten possible relevant risk factors of gender,age,birth situation,feeding patterns,recent diarrhea,cytomegalovirus(CMV)infection,hypocalcemia,dysglycemia,hyponatremia,and abnormal liver function were analyzed by the method of non-conditional Logistic regression analysis.Results Statistically significant difference had been found in the 3 factors of hypocalcaemia,recent diarrhea,abnormal liver function(Pa