Caffeine is the most commonly used methyl xanthine for the prevention of apnoea in prematurity, but the ideal dose was uncertain, until now. This study compared two doses of caffeine for the prevention of apnoea in prematurity. A clinical trial was conducted on 78 preterm infants ≤32 weeks in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. They were randomly allocated to receive the intervention (loading 40 mg/kg/day and maintenance of 20 mg/kg/day) or the control (loading 20 mg/kg/day and maintenance of 10 mg/kg/day) dose of caffeine. The primary outcome of the study was the frequency and total days of apnoea per duration of treatment for both groups. The frequency of apnoea ranged from zero to fourteen in the intervention group and zero to twelve in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups, with a p-value of 0.839. The number of days of apnoea was also similar between both groups, with a p-value of 0.928. There was also no significant difference in adverse events between both regimens. This study did not support the use of higher doses of caffeine as a prevention for apnoea in prematurity.
Keywords: apnoea; caffeine; neonatal morbidities; prematurity.