Staff Neonatologist Cayuga Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medicine Ithaca, New York, United States
Background: Respiratory distress syndrome is the most common cause of respiratory problems in preterm infants. Early nasal CPAP in combination with the INSURE method (INtubation-SURfactant-Extubation) as the primary respiratory support approach for preterm infants has gained popularity over prophylactic surfactant with mechanical ventilation in recent years. Limited evidence exists to understand racial differences in resource usage among preterm infants.
Objective: To investigate the trends, sex, and racial differences in the use of surfactant and assisted ventilation for > 6hrs among newborns in the United States.
Design/Methods: Using 2016-2020 population-based cohort data for all births from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER natality database, we calculated rates, examined trends, and investigated sex and racial differences for surfactant use and assisted ventilation. Contingency tables analyses and Chi-square calculations were performed to detect differences between the groups with statistical significance set at p
Results: Among >18 million newborn births, overall rates of surfactant use and assisted ventilation for the study period were 4.8 and 15.6 per 1000 live births, respectively. While surfactant use remained similar (p=.99), assisted ventilation rates increased from 13.6 to 17.8 per 1000 live births (p Conclusion(s): Among newborn infants, assisted ventilation rates steadily increased across all gestational ages while surfactant use remained stable during the study period. Racial and sex differences exist for surfactant use and assisted ventilation needs. Contemporary trends toward "gentle" approaches in early respiratory management and guidelines for surfactant administration might have contributed to the changes in utilization rates. Clinicians and stakeholders should consider such information when allocating assets to both hospitals and planning regional perinatal programs. Figure 1Trends in Assisted Ventilation and Surfactant Use in Late Preterm [34-36 Weeks GA] Infants Figure 2. <img src=https://www.abstractscorecard.com/uploads/Tasks/upload/16020/FGOVBGGC-1174431-2-IMG(3).png width=440 hheight=247.5 border=0 style=border-style: none;>Trends in Assisted Ventilation >6 hours and Surfactant in Term [37-42 weeks GA] Infants.