Neonatal and Pediatric Medicine
Open Access

Research Article

The Influence of Dosage and Timing of Caffeine Administration on Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Very Preterm Infants

Joanne S Katz^1*, Agnes Perenyi², Rudolph O Parris³ and Dimitre G Stefanov⁴

¹Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Physical Therapy Program, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

²Physical Therapy Program, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Ave, Box 16, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA

³Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

⁴Scientific Computing Center, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Joanne S Katz
Physical Therapy Program, State University of New York
Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Ave, Box 16
Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA
Tel: +1 718-270-1000
E-mail: joanne.katz@downstate.edu

Received date: January 03, 2016; Accepted date: February 16, 2016; Published date: February 25, 2016

Citation: Katz SJ, Perenyi S, Parris RO, Stefanov DG (2016) The Influence of Dosage and Timing of Caffeine Administration on Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Very Preterm Infants. Neonat Pediatr Med 1: 105. doi: 10.4172/2572-4983.1000105

Copyright: © 2016 Katz SJ, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: To analyze starting time (early versus late) and duration of caffeine treatment and its possible
influence on neurodevelopmental (ND) outcome in very preterm infants.
Hypothesis: Early initiation of caffeine treatment with longer duration of treatment may significantly improve ND outcome in very preterm infants.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Level III Neonatal Intensive care Unit (NICU) and out-patient NICU follow-up clinic of an academic medical center in New York City.
Participants: A total of 146 inborn infants with gestational ages (GA) of 23-32 weeks who received caffeine treatment were included in this study with the following exclusion criteria: incomplete clinical data, insufficient ND follow-up and transfer of infants to other facilities.
Interventions: Information on the administration of Caffeine Citrate injection USP and Caffeine Citrate oral solution (20 mg/ml equivalent to 10 mg caffeine base) including duration of treatment were obtained from individual chart reviews.
Primary outcome measure: Normal and adverse (mild/moderate, severe) ND outcome.
Results: Duration and starting point (early versus late) of caffeine treatment were not associated with ND
outcome; adjusted for GA, head ultrasound (HUS) results and gender. The only significant predictor of ND outcome
was GA.
Conclusion: Gestational age (GA) seems to have more of an influence on ND outcome than caffeine citrate
treatment regardless of duration (i.e., dose) and onset (early versus late) of such treatment.

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