Abstract
Objective
To determine the D-dimer reference intervals in the neonatal period.
Materials and methods
The research had been carried out in the obstetrics and gynecology clinic and neonatal
outpatient clinic of a third level hospital. Healthy term newborns aged between 1
and 28 days were enrolled in the study. Venous blood samples were collected from peripheral
veins in all babies and D-dimer, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time and platelet counts
were measured. Reference intervals for D-dimer in the neonatal period were determined using 2.5th and 97.5th percentile values.
Results
A hundred and thirty four newborns (71 boys, 63 girls) were enrolled in the study.
Mean D-dimer levels of infants aged 1–28 days was 1.74 ± 1.88 mg/L (reference range; 0.25–2.81 mg/L).
D-dimer levels were between 2.44 and 2.45 mg/L, 1.71–1.76 mg/L, 1.26–0.89 mg/L and
0.88–0.66 mg/L in the first, second, thirth and fourth week of life,respectively.
D-dimer values inversely correlated with postnatal age (r:−0.3, p < 0.001). However,
it remained above adult levels even in the last week. There was no statistically significant
difference between the D-dimer levels of girls (1.93 ± 2.06 mg/L) and of boys (1.57 ± 1.71 mg/L).
Discussion
In this study, D-dimer levels in the neonatal period were found to be higher than adult levels stated
in the literature. D-dimer levels gradually decreased overtime in the first month. It would be appropriate
to use age-specific reference values in the evaluation of D dimer levels in the neonatal
period.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 21, 2022
Accepted:
June 20,
2022
Received in revised form:
June 12,
2022
Received:
November 15,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
