Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious life-threatening disease which affects infants, primarily those born preterm NEC involves inflammation and infection of the bowel. Around one in ten infants born preterm are affected, and of these around half will die as a consequence of the disease. Survivors are at substantially increased risk of major life-long problems especially in relation to growth, food tolerance and neurodisability.
As survival of very immature infants improves, NEC is becoming a growing problem and is increasingly included as an outcome in preterm RCT. However, there is no accepted case-definition. Variation in case-definitions results in difficulty in multicentre RCT comparative analyses, national and international bench-marking and quality improvement.
The UK Neonatal Collaborative - NEC Study is an ongoing national study involving 151 neonatal units in England (UKNC-NEC Study Group). One of the aims is to develop an evidence-based case-definition for NEC. This evidence-based case-definition would be suitable for inclusion in a core outcomes set.
Professor Neena Modi, Imperial College London, is the principal investigator and supervisor
Professor Kate Costeloe, Queen Mary University of London, is a co-investigator
Dr Cheryl Battersby is the clinical research fellow leading the study
Disease Category: Neonatal care
Disease Name: Neonatal necrotising enterocolitis (NEC)
Age Range: 0 - 1
Sex: Either
Nature of Intervention: Other
- Clinical experts
- Definition
- Other
One hundred and fifty-one neonatal units in England (representing 92% of neonatal units in England) form the UKNC-NEC study group. A case definition for NEC will be developed from clinical, radiological, and histopathology data using multiple logistic regression and classification tree methodology. This case-definition will be tested in an independent validating dataset.
UK Neonatal Collaborative: neonatal teams from 151 participating neonatal units in England.