88 Prolonged Sedation / Analgesia ( S/A ) and 4-Year Outcome in Preterm Newborns: Results from the Epipage Cohort.

Abstract

Background: It seems adequate to relieve pain in newborns and necessary to evaluate the benefit/risk ratio of this therapy.Is there a relationship between prolonged S/A and long-term outcome of extremely preterm infants?Objective: Evaluation of association between prolonged S/A and 4-year outcome of preterms in EPIPAGE cohort.Method: Based on a propensity score, preterms were divided in 2 groups according to the probability of needing prolonged S/A :low ( < 20 % ) or high probability ( >/=20 % ). Dependent variable was S/A. Independent variables were CRIB score, prematurity, ventilation, surgery and postnatal corticotherapy. 4-year outcome was classified as: death, alive at 4 years with or without difficulties (cerebral palsy, developmental problem considered by parents or difficulties at school).Results: Information on S/A was recorded in 2441 newborns alive at discharge. Without taking account propensity score, 35.5 % and 75.5 % of preterms with or without prolonged S/A respectively had no difficulties at 4-year follow-up.Conclusion: Prolonged S/A is associated with a poor 4-year outcome in preterm newborns.But this may be explained by the severity of the illness.