The publication quality of laboratory values in clinical studies in neonates

Background: There are no generally accepted age-appropriate reference ranges for laboratory values in neonates. This also matters for drug development. The International Neonatal Consortium (INC) is engaged to define actionable reference ranges of commonly used laboratory values in neonates. Methods: A structured literature search was performed to identify standards or recommendations for publications that present neonatal laboratory data to assess the publication quality of laboratory values in neonates. Using a modified Delphi approach, an assessment and data extraction instrument to screen on completeness of information was developed. Results: On 2908 hits, 281 papers were retained for full reading and 257 for data extraction. None of the papers reported a publication standard. Using the extraction instrument, most papers presented single country or unit findings. The median number of neonates was 120, with uncertainty on single or repeated measurements. Clinically meaningful information on age, sex, and medical conditions was commonly provided. Information on pharmacotherapy, equipment, analytical method, or laboratory location was rarely mentioned. Conclusions: Published information on laboratory values for neonates is sparse, not systematic, and incomplete. This undermines efforts to compare treatments, safety monitoring, or clinical management. Furthermore, there appears to be no standard yet to report laboratory values in neonates.