Managing established bronchopulmonary dysplasia without using routine blood gas measurements.

Abstract

Routine blood gas measurements are common in infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (sBPD) and are a noxious stimulus. We developed a guideline-driven approach to evaluate the care of infants with sBPD without routine blood gas sampling in the chronic phase of NICU care (after diagnosis at 36 weeks PMA). We examined blood gas utilization and outcomes in our sBPD inpatient care unit using data collected between 2014 and 2020. 485 sBPD infants met inclusion criteria, and 303 (62%) never had a blood gas obtained after 36 weeks PMA. In infants who had blood gas measurements, the median number of total blood gases per patient was only 4 (IQR 1-10). We did not identify adverse effects on hospital outcomes in patients without routine blood gas measurements. We found that patients with established BPD could be managed without routine blood gas analyses after 36 weeks PMA.