Paracetamol vs. Ibuprofen in Preterm Infants With Hemodynamically Significant Patent Ductus Arteriosus: A Non-inferiority Randomized Clinical Trial Protocol

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) for patent ductus arteriosus in preterm or low birth weight infants

BACKGROUND

The different management strategies for patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in preterm infants are expectant management, surgery, or medical treatment with non-selective cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have suggested that paracetamol may be an effective and safe agent for the closure of a PDA.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the efficacy and safety of paracetamol as monotherapy or as part of combination therapy via any route of administration, compared with placebo, no intervention, or another prostaglandin inhibitor, for prophylaxis or treatment of an echocardiographically-diagnosed PDA in preterm or low birth weight infants.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, and three trials registers on 13 October 2021, and one other database on 1 March 2022. We also checked references and contacted study authors to identify additional studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included RCTs and quasi-RCTs in which paracetamol (single-agent or combination therapy) was compared to no intervention, placebo, or other agents used for closure of PDA, irrespective of dose, duration, and mode of administration in preterm infants. Two independent authors reviewed the search results and made a final selection of potentially eligible articles through discussion.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We performed data collection and analyses in accordance with the methods of Cochrane Neonatal. We used the GRADE approach to assess the certainty of evidence for the following outcomes: failure of ductal closure after the first course of treatment; all-cause mortality during initial hospital stay; and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

MAIN RESULTS

For this update, we included 27 studies enrolling 2278 infants. We considered the overall risk of bias in the 27 studies to vary from low to unclear. We identified 24 ongoing studies. Paracetamol versus ibuprofen  There was probably little to no difference between paracetamol and ibuprofen for failure of ductal closure after the first course (risk ratio (RR) 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88 to 1.18; 18 studies, 1535 infants; moderate-certainty evidence). There was likely little to no difference between paracetamol and ibuprofen for all-cause mortality during hospital stay (RR 1.09, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.48; 8 studies, 734 infants; moderate-certainty evidence), and for NEC (RR 1.30, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.94; 10 studies, 1015 infants; moderate-certainty evidence). Paracetamol versus indomethacin There was little to no difference between paracetamol and indomethacin for failure of ductal closure after the first course (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.33; 4 studies, 380 infants; low-certainty evidence). There was little to no difference between paracetamol and indomethacin for all-cause mortality during hospital stay (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.39 to 1.92; 2 studies, 114 infants; low-certainty evidence). The rate of NEC may be lower in the paracetamol group (3.7%) versus the indomethacin group(9.2%) (RR 0.42, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.96; 4 studies, 384 infants; low-certainty evidence).  Prophylactic paracetamol versus placebo/no intervention Prophylactic paracetamol (17%) compared to placebo/no intervention (61%) may reduce failure of ductal closure after one course (RR 0.27, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.42; 3 studies, 240 infants; low-certainty evidence). There was little to no difference between prophylactic paracetamol and placebo/no intervention for all-cause mortality during hospital stay (RR 0.59, 95% CI 0.24 to 1.44; 3 studies, 240 infants; low-certainty evidence). No studies reported on NEC.  Early paracetamol treatment versus placebo/no intervention Early paracetamol treatment (28%) compared to placebo/no intervention (79%) may reduce failure of ductal closure after one course when used before 14 days' postnatal age (RR 0.35, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.53; 2 studies, 127 infants; low-certainty evidence). No studies reported on all-cause mortality during hospital stay or NEC.  Late paracetamol treatment versus placebo/no intervention  There was little to no difference between late paracetamol and placebo for failure of ductal closure after one course of treatment when used at or after 14 days' postnatal age (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.01; 1 study, 55 infants; low-certainty evidence) or NEC (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.07 to 15.76; 1 study, 55 infants; low-certainty evidence). No data were reported for all-cause mortality during hospital stay.  Paracetamol combined with ibuprofen versus ibuprofen combined with placebo or no intervention There was little to no difference between paracetamol plus ibuprofen compared to ibuprofen plus placebo or no intervention for failure of ductal closure after the first course (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.36; 2 studies, 111 infants; low-certainty evidence). There was little to no difference between paracetamol plus ibuprofen compared to ibuprofen plus placebo or no intervention for NEC (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.01 to 7.45; 1 study, 24 infants; low-certainty evidence). No data were reported for all-cause mortality during hospital stay.  AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Moderate-certainty evidence suggests that there is probably little or no difference in effectiveness between paracetamol and ibuprofen; low-certainty evidence suggests that there is probably little or no difference in effectiveness between paracetamol and indomethacin; low-certainty evidence suggests that prophylactic paracetamol may be more effective than placebo/no intervention; low-certainty evidence suggests that early paracetamol treatment may be more effective than placebo/no intervention; low-certainty evidence suggests that there is probably little or no difference between late paracetamol treatment and placebo, and probably little or no difference in effectiveness between the combination of paracetamol plus ibuprofen versus ibuprofen alone for the closure of PDA after the first course of treatment. The majority of neonates included in these studies were of moderate preterm gestation. Thus, establishing the efficacy and safety of paracetamol for PDA treatment in extremely low birth weight (ELBW: birth weight < 1000 grams) and extremely low gestational age neonates (ELGANs < 28 weeks' gestation) requires further studies.

Racing against time: leveraging preclinical models to understand pulmonary susceptibility to perinatal acetaminophen exposures

Over the past decade, clinicians have increasingly prescribed acetaminophen (APAP) for patients in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Acetaminophen has been shown to reduce postoperative opiate burden, and may provide similar efficacy for closure of the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Despite these potential benefits, APAP exposures have spread to increasingly less mature infants, a highly vulnerable population for whom robust pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data for APAP are lacking. Concerningly, preclinical studies suggest that perinatal APAP exposures may result in unanticipated adverse effects that are unique to the developing lung. In this review, we discuss the clinical observations linking APAP exposures to adverse respiratory outcomes and the preclinical data demonstrating a developmental susceptibility to APAP-induced lung injury. We show how clinical observations linking perinatal APAP exposures to pulmonary injury have been taken to the bench to produce important insights into the potential mechanisms underlying these findings. We argue that the available data support a more cautious approach to APAP use in the NICU until large randomized controlled trials provide appropriate safety and efficacy data.

Efficacy and Safety of Oral Acetaminophen for Premature Infants With Patent Ductus Arteriosus: A Meta-Analysis

Objective: To systematically review the efficacy and safety of oral Acetaminophen for premature infants with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).

Methods: Databases including Ovid, EMbase, Pubmed, The Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINHAL), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM), WanFang Data, China Science and Technology Journal Database were searched to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about Acetaminophen for premature infants with PDA from inception to January 1, 2021. Quality assessment was performed through bias risk evaluation according to the Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0, and then the homogeneous studies were analyzed using Revman 5.4 software.

Results: A total of 16 RCTs were included, which were divided into for four subgroups: subgroup I (oral acetaminophen vs. oral ibuprofen, 13 RCTs), subgroup II (oral acetaminophen vs. intravenous indomethacin, 1 RCT), subgroup III (oral acetaminophen vs intravenous ibuprofen, 1 RCT), and subgroup IV (oral acetaminophen vs intravenous placebo, 1 RCT). In subgroup I, There was no significant difference in the ductal closure rate after the first course of drug administration [typical relative risk (RR) 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90 to 1.05], the accumulated ductal closure rate after two course of treatment (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.91–1.02), and mortality (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.75–1.49) between treatment with oral acetaminophen versus oral ibuprofen (p > 0.05); compared with oral ibuprofen, oral acetaminophen was associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding/stool occult blood positive (RR 0.51, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.82)and oliguria (RR 0.62, 95% CI 0.42–0.91) (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The meta analysis approves the facts that there is no significant difference in the efficacity in premature infants with PDA between oral acetaminophen and buprofen or indometacin, but compared to ibuprofen, oral acetaminophen may decrease the incidence of oliguria and gastrointestinal bleeding. More reliable conclusions should be made through large-size, multi-center, well-designed RCTs.

Prophylactic Low-Dose Paracetamol Administration for Ductal Closure and Amplitude-Integrated Electroencephalography in Preterm Infants

INTRODUCTION

Prophylactic low-dose paracetamol administration is used to induce closure of the ductus arteriosus in preterm infants. In our recent study we found no impairment on microstructural maturation processes in the brain of preterm infants at term-equivalent age following prophylactic low-dose paracetamol administration. We now assessed amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) signals in preterm infants with and without exposure to prophylactic low-dose paracetamol administration.

METHODS

Infants <32 gestational weeks born between 10/2014 and 12/2018 received prophylactic paracetamol (10 mg/kg intravenously every 8 h until echocardiography after at least 72 h) and form the paracetamol group; infants born between 02/2011 and 09/2014 formed the control group. Four single parameters (continuity, cyclicity, amplitude of lower border, bandwidth span) together with their sum (Burdjalov total score) and presence of sleep-wake cycles were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

Included in the study were 338 infants. Two-hundred and seventeen infants received prophylactic paracetamol and 121 formed the control group. The paracetamol group showed a significantly higher number of sleep-wake cycles per hour and a significantly higher total scores compared to the control group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Paracetamol exposure has been regarded critically with respect to safety in preterm infants in recent years. We found no impairment on amplitude-integrated electroencephalography signals in preterm infants receiving low-dose prophylactic paracetamol compared to controls. Growing awareness and greater availability of data may encourage the clinicians to administer prophylactic paracetamol for ductal closure in preterm infants. The clinical relevance of our findings has to be evaluated in long-term follow up studies on neurodevelopmental outcome.