Association between opioid use during mechanical ventilation in preterm infants and evidence of brain injury: a propensity score-matched cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Preterm infants often require mechanical ventilation (MV), which can be a painful experience. Opioids (such as morphine) are used to provide analgesia, despite conflicting evidence about their impact on the developing brain. We aimed to quantify the use of opioids during MV in infants born at <32 weeks' gestational age and to investigate the association between opioid use and evidence of brain injury.

Methods

In this retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study, we used routinely recorded data from the National Neonatal Research Database to study infants born at 22-31 weeks gestational age who were admitted to neonatal units in England and Wales (between Jan 1, 2012, and Dec 31, 2020) and who were mechanically ventilated on one or more days during their hos

SUBMITTER: Szatkowski L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10632414 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature