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Medication use in infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia admitted to United States children’s hospitals

Abstract

Objective

To identify the number of cumulative medication exposures and most frequently used medications in infants with severe BPD.

Study design

We performed a retrospective cohort study in infants with severe BPD admitted to United States children’s hospitals. We measured cumulative medication exposures in individual subjects and between-center variation after adjustment for infant characteristics. We then identified the specific medications and therapeutic classes with the highest rates of use.

Results

In 3252 subjects across 43 hospitals, we identified a median (interquartile range) of 30 (17–45) cumulative medication exposures per infant. The adjusted mean number of medication exposures varied between centers (p < 0.0001), with a range of 22–50. Diuretics and furosemide were the most frequently prescribed therapeutic class and specific medication for the management of severe BPD.

Conclusions

Infants with severe BPD are exposed to alarming number of medications of unclear efficacy and safety, with marked variation between center.

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Correspondence to Nicolas A. Bamat.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial interests to disclose. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Institutional National Research Service Award 2T32HD060550-06 to NAB and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Award K23HL136843 to EAJ. The funding sources had no role in the study design; the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; the writing of the report or the decision to submit for publication. NAB wrote the first draft of the manuscript. No compensation honorarium, grant, or other form of payment was given to produce the manuscript.

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Bamat, N.A., Kirpalani, H., Feudtner, C. et al. Medication use in infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia admitted to United States children’s hospitals. J Perinatol 39, 1291–1299 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-019-0415-9

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