Impact of providing vitamin A to the routine pulmonary care of extremely low birth weight infants.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine if the continued use of vitamin A in a nursery utilizing early surfactant and nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) was warranted.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective, cohort study of appropriately sized, preterm neonates weighing ≤1000 g at birth was conducted. Two time periods were compared: Pre-Vitamin A was composed of extremely low birth weight who were routinely cared for with early nasal CPAP (n = 76); and Post-Vitamin A (n = 102) consisted of ELBWs who were cared for similar to Pre-Vitamin A, but with the addition of vitamin A. Outcome variables included the incidence of BPD and other pulmonary and major neonatal morbidities.

RESULTS: Between Pre-Vitamin A and Post-Vitamin A the incidence of moderate to severe BPD decreased by 11%, from 33% to 22% (p = 0.2). No difference was found in the number of ventilator days or in the incidence of any other neonatal morbidity or mortality, including intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis, or patent ductus arteriosus requiring surgical ligation.

CONCLUSION: In a neonatal unit utilizing early surfactant followed by nasal CPAP at delivery, supplementing extremely premature neonates with vitamin A demonstrated a trend towards a decrease in the incidence of moderate to severe BPD; however, this change requires a larger sample to verify in the future.