Discontinuing Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure in Infants ≤32 Weeks of Gestational Age: A Randomized Control Trial.

OBJECTIVES: To compare immediate cessation of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) vs a stepwise decrease in pressure on the duration of NCPAP therapy in infants born prematurely. STUDY DESIGN: A single center study in infants 230-326 weeks of gestational age. NCPAP was stopped either at 5 cm H2O (control) or 3 cm H2O after a stepwise pressure wean (wean) using defined stability and failure criteria. Primary outcome is total NCPAP days. RESULTS: We enrolled 226 infants; 116 were randomly assigned to control and 110 to the wean group. There was no difference in the total NCPAP days between groups (median [25th, 75th percentiles] 16 [5, 36] vs 14 [7, 33] respectively). There were no differences between groups in secondary outcomes, including duration of hospital stay, critical care days, and oxygen supplementation. A higher proportion of control infants failed the initial attempt to discontinue NCPAP (43% vs 27%, respectively; P < .01) and required ≥2 attempts (20% vs 5%, respectively; P < .01). In addition, infants 23-27 weeks of gestational age in the wean group were 2.4-times more likely to successfully stop NCPAP at the first attempt (P = .02) vs controls. CONCLUSIONS: Discontinuation of NCPAP after a gradual pressure wean to 3 cm H2O did not decrease the duration of NCPAP therapy compared with stopping from 5 cm H2O in infants ≤32 weeks of gestational age. However, weaning decreased failed initial attempts to stop NCPAP, particularly among infants <28 weeks of gestational age. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02064712.

Decreasing Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Failure in Preterm Infants.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Many preterm infants stabilized on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) at birth require mechanical ventilation (MV) during the first 72 hours of life, which is defined as CPAP failure. Our objective was to decrease CPAP failure in infants ≤29 weeks' gestational age (GA). METHODS: A quality improvement bundle named OPTISURF was implemented for infants ≤29 weeks' GA admitted on CPAP, consisting of stepwise escalation of CPAP and less invasive surfactant administration guided by fractional inspired oxygen concentration ≥0.3. The CPAP failure rate was tracked by using control charts. We compared practice and outcomes of a pre-OPTISURF cohort (January 2017 to September 2018) to a post-OPTISURF cohort (October 2018 to December 2019). RESULTS: Of the 216 infants ≤29 weeks' GA admitted to NICU on CPAP, 125 infants belonged to the pre-OPTISURF cohort (OSC) and 91 to the post-OSC. Compared with the pre-OSC, a higher proportion of infants in the post-OSC received CPAP 7 cm H2O within 4 hours of life (7% vs 32%; P < .01). The post-OSC also had lower rates of CPAP failure (54% vs 11%; P < .01), pneumothoraces (8% vs 1%; P < .03), need for MV (58% vs 31%; P < .01), and patent ductus arteriosus treatment (21% vs 9%; P = .02). Additionally, in a subgroup analysis, CPAP failure was lower in the post-OSC among infants 23 to 26 weeks (79% vs 27%; P < .01) and 27 to 29 weeks' GA (46% vs 3%; P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a quality improvement bundle including CPAP optimization and less invasive surfactant administration decreased CPAP failure and need for MV in preterm infants.

Early predictors of continuous positive airway pressure failure in preterm neonates.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a prediction model to identify infants admitted on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) requiring intubation within seventy-two hours of life (HOL). STUDY DESIGN: Infants born ≤29 weeks' gestational age between 2013 and April 2018 were randomly assigned to either a modeling cohort (MC) or a validation cohort (VC) in a 2:1 ratio. Variables available within two HOL were compared between the CPAP failure group (CFG) and the CPAP success group (CSG). RESULTS: Of the 189 infants in the MC, 50% failed CPAP. Compared to CSG, infants in the CFG had lower antenatal steroid exposure, birth weight, higher radiographic severe respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2). A forward stepwise logistic regression modeling in both MC and VC showed that FiO2 >0.3 and radiographic severe RDS predicted CPAP failure. CONCLUSION: FiO2 >0.3 within two HOL and radiographic severe RDS predicts CPAP failure in preterm infants.