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Predicting treatment of pulmonary hypertension at discharge in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Abstract

Objective

To predict pulmonary hypertension (PH) therapy at discharge in a large multicenter cohort of infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).

Study design

Six-year linked records from Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Database and Pediatric Health Information System were used; patients whose diaphragmatic hernia was repaired before admission or referral, who were previously home before admission or referral, and non-survivors were excluded. The primary outcome was the use of PH medications at discharge and the secondary outcome was an inter-center variation of therapies during inpatient utilization. Clinical factors were used to develop a multivariable equation randomly applied to 80% cohort; validated in the remaining 20% infants.

Results

A total of 831 infants with CDH from 23 centers were analyzed. Overall, 11.6% of survivors were discharged on PH medication. Center, duration of mechanical ventilation, and duration of inhaled nitric oxide were associated with the use of PH medication at discharge. This model performed well in the validation cohort area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.9, goodness-of-fit χ2, p = 0.17.

Conclusions

Clinical variables can predict the need for long-term PH medication after NICU hospitalization in surviving infants with CDH. This information may be useful to educate families and guide the development of clinical guidelines.

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Fig. 1: Flow diagram outlining patient selection for the study.
Fig. 2: Intercenter variation of pulmonary hypertension (PH) medication use at any time during NICU stay and at hospital discharge in CDH patients.

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Acknowledgements

Jeanette Asselin, Beverly Brozanski, David Durand (ex officio), Francine Dykes (ex officio), Jacquelyn Evans (Executive Director), Theresa Grover, Karna Murthy (Chair), Michael Padula, Eugenia Pallotto, Anthony Piazza, Kristina Reber, and Billie Short are members of the Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium, Inc. For more information, please contact: support@thechnc.org.

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Contributions

All authors and members of the Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Focus Group conceptualized the study, were responsible for the study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. BM drafted the initial manuscript, reviewed, and revised the final manuscript. KM, NR, MW, SK, BB, RD, BH, HH, JG, RS, NA, RC, JD, AH, YJ, NFMP, MU, IZ, and TRG critically reviewed and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Burhan Mahmood.

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Competing interests

BB, TRG, and KM are board members of the Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that manages and owns the Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Database, a data source used in this study. None of the remaining authors have any financial or other conflicts of interest as described in the author’s instructions. There were no study sponsors involved in the creation of the manuscript.

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Mahmood, B., Murthy, K., Rintoul, N. et al. Predicting treatment of pulmonary hypertension at discharge in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. J Perinatol 42, 45–52 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01249-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01249-6

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