EARLY VS LATE CAFFEINE THERAPY IN PRETERM INFANTS: ANALYSIS OF CLINICAL OUTCOME

Objective: To study clinical outcome of early versus late caffeine therapy in preterm infants. Study Design: Prospective comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, from Jan to Jul 2018. Methodology: A total of 40 preterm infants with gestational age <32 weeks and birth weight <1500 grams were randomly divided into two groups on the basis of initiation of caffeine therapy i.e. group A (early caffeine group) and group B (late caffeine group). Infant’s demographic data and clinical outcomes were compared between both groups using SPSS IBM software. Results: Mean gestational age was 29.9 ± 1.19 weeks with male to female ratio of 1.5:1 Mean birth weight was 1165.3 ± 316 grams. Half (50%) of the infants were delivered by cesarean section while surfactant was given in 29 (72.5%) infants. While comparing both groups we observed that early caffeine shortens duration of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay (p