Postnatal diuretics, weight gain and home oxygen requirement in extremely preterm infants

Diuretics are often given to infants with evolving/established bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) with the hope of improving their pulmonary outcomes. We aimed to determine if diuretic use in preterm infants was associated with improved pulmonary outcomes, but poorer weight gain.

An observational study over a 5 year period was undertaken of all infants born at less than 29 weeks of gestation and alive at discharge in all neonatal units in England who received consecutive diuretic use for at least 7 days. Postnatal weight gain and home supplementary oxygen requirement were the outcomes. A literature review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and crossover studies was undertaken to determine if diuretic usage was associated with changes in lung mechanics and oxygenation, duration of supplementary oxygen and requirement for home supplementary oxygen.

In the observational study, 9,457 infants survived to discharge, 44.6% received diuretics for at least 7 days. Diuretic use was associated with an increased probability of supplementary home oxygen of 0.14 and an increase in weight gain of 2.5 g/week. In the review, seven of the 10 studies reported improvements only in short term lung mechanics. There was conflicting evidence regarding whether diuretics resulted in short term improvements in oxygenation.

Diuretic use was not associated with a reduction in requirement for supplemental oxygen on discharge. The literature review highlighted a lack of RCTs assessing meaningful long-term clinical outcomes. Randomised trials are needed to determine the long-term risk benefit ratio of chronic diuretic use.