CPAP Superior to HFNC in Preemies with Respiratory Distress

Research brief

Continuous positive airway pressure therapy was superior to high-flow nasal oxygen therapy in preterm infants with respiratory distress, according to a randomized trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine.¹

Researchers evaluated 564 preterm infants suffering early respiratory distress who had not received surfactant replacement. These infants were assigned either nasal high-flow therapy or nasal CPAP.¹

After 72 hours treatment failure occurred in 71 of 278 infants (25.5%) in the high-flow group and in 38 of 286 infants (13.3%) in the CPAP group.¹

“When used as primary support for preterm infants with respiratory distress, high-flow therapy resulted in a significantly higher rate of treatment failure than did CPAP,” researchers concluded.¹

Read the full study at www.nejm.org

1. Roberts C, et al. Nasal High-Flow Therapy for Primary Respiratory Support in Preterm Infants. N Engl J Med 2016;375:1142-1151. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1603694