SUMMARY
Introduction: Blood loss due to laboratory testing is greatest for the most premature neonates with very low birthweight who require many weeks of intensive support and monitoring. Objective: The purpose of this study was tofind out the volume of blood withdrawn for analytical purposes in neonates. Design: Retrospective chart analysisSetting: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a tertiary care teaching hospital of central India Participants:Neonates admitted to NICU over a period of three months. All medical records of recruited patients were reviewedand amount of blood withdrawn for analytical purposes was recorded. Intervention: None Main OutcomeMeasures: The amount of blood overdrawn per test and blood overdrawn per newborn. Results: A total of 153neonates were admitted to the NICU during the study period. A total of 684 samples were performed, correspondingto 4.47±3.36 (range 1-17) per neonate. The mean volume of blood removed was 9.38 ml ± 8.8 ml per newborn(range 1 -51 ml). The amount of blood withdrawn was inversely proportional to the gestational age and birth weighti.e., neonates less than 32 weeks gestation and those with birth weight <1500 gm had statistically significant morephlebotomy loss (p<0.0001). The amount of blood withdrawn per test was significantly more than required bylaboratory. Conclusion: The volume of blood sampled in our NICU was higher in neonates with low birth weightand lesser gestational age. The amount of blood overdrawn per test was much higher than required by laboratory.