Objective
To evaluate vasopressin vs dopamine as initial therapy in ELBW infants with hypotension during the first 24 hours of life.
Study design
Hypotensive ELBW infants ≤ 30 weeks’ gestation and ≤ 24 hours old randomly received treatment with vasopressin or dopamine in a blinded fashion. Normotensive infants not receiving vasopressor support served as a comparison group.
Results
Twenty hypotensive ELBW infants received vasopressin (n=10) or dopamine (n=10), and 50 were enrolled for comparison. Mean gestational age was 25.6 ± 1.4 weeks and birth weight 705 ± 154 g. Response to vasopressin paralleled that of dopamine in time to adequate mean BP (Kaplan-Meier curve, p=0.986); 90% of infants in each treatment group responded with adequate BP. The vasopressin group received fewer doses of surfactant (p<0.05), had lower PaCO2 values (p<0.05), and were not tachycardic (p<0.001) during vasopressin administration, compared with the dopamine group.
Conclusions
Vasopressin in ELBW infants as the initial agent for early hypotension appeared safe. This pilot study supports a larger randomized controlled trial of vasopressin vs dopamine therapy in ELBW infants with hypotension.