Effect of Therapeutic Hypothermia Initiated After 6 Hours of Age on Death or Disability Among Newborns With Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-24-2017
Abstract
Importance: Hypothermia initiated at less than 6 hours after birth reduces death or disability for infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy at 36 weeks' or later gestation. To our knowledge, hypothermia trials have not been performed in infants presenting after 6 hours.
Objective: To estimate the probability that hypothermia initiated at 6 to 24 hours after birth reduces the risk of death or disability at 18 months among infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
Design, Setting, and Participants: A randomized clinical trial was conducted between April 2008 and June 2016 among infants at 36 weeks' or later gestation with moderate or severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy enrolled at 6 to 24 hours after birth. Twenty-one US Neonatal Research Network centers participated. Bayesian analyses were prespecified given the anticipated limited sample size.
Interventions: Targeted esophageal temperature was used in 168 infants. Eighty-three hypothermic infants were maintained at 33.5°C (acceptable range, 33°C-34°C) for 96 hours and then rewarmed. Eighty-five noncooled infants were maintained at 37.0°C (acceptable range, 36.5°C-37.3°C).
Main Outcomes and Measures: The composite of death or disability (moderate or severe) at 18 to 22 months adjusted for level of encephalopathy and age at randomization.
Results: Hypothermic and noncooled infants were term (mean [SD], 39 [2] and 39 [1] weeks' gestation, respectively), and 47 of 83 (57%) and 55 of 85 (65%) were male, respectively. Both groups were acidemic at birth, predominantly transferred to the treating center with moderate encephalopathy, and were randomized at a mean (SD) of 16 (5) and 15 (5) hours for hypothermic and noncooled groups, respectively. The primary outcome occurred in 19 of 78 hypothermic infants (24.4%) and 22 of 79 noncooled infants (27.9%) (absolute difference, 3.5%; 95% CI, -1% to 17%). Bayesian analysis using a neutral prior indicated a 76% posterior probability of reduced death or disability with hypothermia relative to the noncooled group (adjusted posterior risk ratio, 0.86; 95% credible interval, 0.58-1.29). The probability that death or disability in cooled infants was at least 1%, 2%, or 3% less than noncooled infants was 71%, 64%, and 56%, respectively.
Conclusions and Relevance: Among term infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, hypothermia initiated at 6 to 24 hours after birth compared with noncooling resulted in a 76% probability of any reduction in death or disability, and a 64% probability of at least 2% less death or disability at 18 to 22 months. Hypothermia initiated at 6 to 24 hours after birth may have benefit but there is uncertainty in its effectiveness.
Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00614744.
Publisher
American Medical Association
Publication Title
JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
ISSN
1538-3598
Volume
318
Issue
16
First Page
1550
Last Page
1560
Recommended Citation
Laptook, Abbot R; Seetha Shankaran; Jon E Tyson; Breda Munoz; Edward F Bell; Ronald N Goldberg; Nehal A Parikh; Namasivayam Ambalavanan; Claudia Pedroza; Athina Pappas; Abhik Das; Aasma S Chaudhary; Richard A Ehrenkranz; Angelita M Hensman; Krisa P Van Meurs; Lina F Chalak; Amir M Khan; Shannon E G Hamrick; Gregory M Sokol; Michele C Walsh; Brenda B Poindexter; Roger G Faix; Kristi L Watterberg; Ivan D Frantz; Ronnie Guillet; Uday Devaskar; William E Truog; Valerie Y Chock; Myra H Wyckoff; Elisabeth C McGowan; David P Carlton; Heidi M Harmon; Jane E Brumbaugh; C Michael Cotten; Pablo J Sánchez; Anna Maria Hibbs; and Rosemary D Higgins.
"Effect of Therapeutic Hypothermia Initiated After 6 Hours of Age on Death or Disability Among Newborns With Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.."
JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
