-
1
The study included 56 preterm infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), comparing surgical and non-surgical cases with controls.
-
2
Surgical infants had lower gestational age, younger postnatal age at NEC diagnosis, and higher Bell stage III disease compared to non-surgical infants.
-
3
The surgical group exhibited higher levels of inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-10, CRP, and TNF-α, along with lower microbial diversity.
-
4
Bifidobacterium and microbial diversity indices were inversely associated with surgical intervention, while Proteobacteria and Clostridium were positively associated.
-
5
A combined microbiota-based model demonstrated potential for surgical risk stratification, achieving an AUC of 0.904 with high sensitivity and specificity.
