Özet:

Objective: The main concern in neonatal polycythemia is complication development due to hyperviscosity. We aimed to compare symptoms, clinical and laboratory features, and organ dysfunctions of polycythemic newborns with respect to gestational age, hematocrit (hct) levels and presence of thrombocytopenia. Material and Methods: Between January 2013 and December 2016, all hospitalized newborns with a gestational age of ≥ 34 weeks were retrospectively evaluated and those with a venous hct value exceeding 65% were included. Exclusion criteria were infections, metabolic diseases and congenital anomalies. Newborns were grouped and compared according to hct values (65–69.9% vs. ≥70%), gestational age (late preterm vs. term) and thrombocytopenia (present/ absent). Results: Polycythemia incidence was 7.7% in the study group. The most common symptoms were hypoglycemia and hyperbilirubinemia, while 35.1% of newborns were asymptomatic. Hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia, and plethora were significantly more frequent in the severe polycythemia (hct ≥70%) group than in the moderate polycythemia (hct between 65–69.9%) group (p = 0.027, p = 0.014, p < 0.001, respectively). Hyperbilirubinemia was more common in late preterm babies than term babies (p = 0.014). Feeding difficulty, convulsion, hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia and liver function test abnormalities were significantly more common in newborns with thrombocytopenia than those without (p = 0.002, p = 0.004, p < 0.001, p = 0.022, p = 0.043, respectively). Conclusion: It should be kept in mind that more than one-third of polycythemic newborns may be asymptomatic. While the most common symptoms were hypoglycemia and hyperbilirubinemia, liver function tests may also be adversely affected.

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