Article: Academic Performance, Motor Function, and Behavior 11 Years After Neonatal Caffeine Citrate Therapy for Apnea of Prematurity

Citation: Schmidt, Barbara, et al. “Academic Performance, Motor Function, and Behavior 11 Years after Neonatal Caffeine Citrate Therapy for Apnea of Prematurity.” JAMA Pediatrics, vol. 171, no. 6, 1 June 2017, p. 564., https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.0238.

• A follow-up study was conducted at 14 academic hospitals in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom from May 7, 2011, to May 27, 2016, of English- or French-speaking children who had been enrolled in the randomized, placebo-controlled Caffeine for Apnea of Prematurity trial between October 11, 1999, and October 22, 2004.
• A total of 920 children with birth weights of 500-1250g participated in this study.
• The primary outcome of functional impairment was a composite of poor academic performance, motor impairment, and behavior problems.
• The study conducted to better inform clinicians and parents of the long-term benefits and potential risks of one of the most common therapies in neonatal medicine.
• Caffeine therapy for apnea of prematurity did not significantly reduce the combined rate of academic, motor, and behavioral impairments.
• It was associated with a reduced risk of motor impairment in 11-year-old children with very low birth weight. At the doses used in this trial, neonatal caffeine therapy is effective and safe into middle school age.