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

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.