Premature Birth clinical trials at UC Davis

This study is being conducted to compare the incidence of preterm infants (up to 28+6 weeks GA) who achieve a peripheral oxygen saturation of 80 percent by 5 minutes of life (MOL) given mask CPAP/PPV with an FiO2 of 1.0 during DCC for 90 seconds (HI Group) to infants given mask CPAP/PPV with an FiO2 of .30 during DCC for 90 seconds (LO Group).

In Canada, about 900 babies each year are born very early (<26 weeks of gestation) and have a high chance of dying or having a serious bleed in the brain. Families of these extremely preterm babies consider preventing severe brain bleeding as critical to their child's health and well-being. A medicine called indomethacin, when given intravenously in 3-doses, is known to reduce severe brain bleeding. But use of this drug is variable among clinicians working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) due to (a) its side effects on the gut; (b) possible harm when used with other medications; (c) a notion that despite reducing brain bleeds, the child's long-term brain development is not improved. Emerging evidence suggests that a single low-dose indomethacin regimen may be equally effective in reducing severe brain bleeding as compared to a traditional 3-dose regimen. The investigators propose a blinded randomized controlled trial, a study design where babies born <26 weeks will be randomly assigned within 12 hours of birth to either a single dose of intravenous indomethacin or similar looking placebo in the form a saline solution. The study will test if a single dose indomethacin regimen is effective in improving survival of these babies without the devastating complication of severe brain bleeding. In this study the care providers and researchers will be unaware as to which baby receives indomethacin and which baby receives placebo to ensure no one's expectations or biases can influence the results. The investigators will conduct the study in multiple NICUs across Canada, the United States and Australia in 2 phases: First, an internal pilot phase that will enroll 104 babies born <26 weeks or <750 g birth weight over a period of 1 year. If the investigators are successful in achieving their target enrolment in the pilot phase, they will move on to the second phase and continue enrollment up to a total of 500 babies born <26 weeks or <750 g birth weight over a period of 3 years. The total of 500 babies will include the 104 babies enrolled in the first phase of the study. This study will help the investigators determine in the most unbiased way whether a single dose of indomethacin given immediately after birth in the smallest babies born <26 weeks of gestation can safely and effectively reduce severe brain bleeding.

Premature infants are at risk for a variety of diseases, the investigators would like to learn more about why some premature babies are at higher risk and some are protected from these diseases. Scientists at UC Davis and other universities have developed new ways to measure the bacteria and a large number of small molecules in specimens of infant blood, urine, stomach fluid and poop and in mother's milk. These discoveries allow us to consider questions that were impossible to answer before these new techniques were developed. One such question is whether the bacteria in the poop of a premature baby can help us predict the baby's risk for developing infection or a common and serious disease of premature infants called necrotizing enterocolitis. A second question is whether the DNA of a premature baby (obtained from saliva with a q-tip) can predict higher risk for diseases of premature babies.