A clinical study on the efficacy of caffeine in premature infants receiving mechanical ventilation

Abstract

Objective To study the clinical efficacy of caffeine in premature infants receiving mechanical ventilation and related complications. Method From January 2014 to September 2016, preterm infants (28w≤GA<33w) treated with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) or conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) in neonatal intensive care unit were studied. They were randomly assigned into the caffeine group and the control group. The caffeine group received caffeine when NCPAP ventilation was applied or adjusting to synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) mode. The control group was injected with 5% glucose without caffeine.The t test and χ2 test were used to analyze the clinical efficacy and related complications. Result A total of 96 patients receiving NCPAP ventilation were collected (birth weight between 1 300~2 100 g), including 51 cases in caffeine group and 45 cases in the control group. 84 cases received CMV ventilation (birth weight between 1 000~1 499 g), with 43 cases in the caffeine group and 41 cases the control group. Among the NCPAP infants, the incidence of failure to withdraw ventilator (0% vs. 13.3%) and the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (3.9% vs. 17.8%) were lower in the caffeine group than the control group. The duration of assisted ventilation and hospital stay in the caffeine group were shorter than the control group [(6.2±3.1) d vs. (8.2±3.2) d, (16.3±8.7) d vs.(19.5±9.2) d], the differences were statistically significant (P 0.05). Conclusion Caffeine can help reduce the incidences of withdrawal failure, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, ventilation duration and hospital stay when using NCPAP and CMV ventilation. Key words: Caffeine; Continuous positive airway pressure; Ventilators, mechanical; Bronchopulmonary dysplasia; Infant, premature