title: Adjunctive drug therapies for treatment of respiratory diseases in the newborn: based on evidence or habit?
abstract: Respiratory distress syndrome is a disease of prematurity and is caused by a relative deficiency of endogenous surfactant production. Respiratory distress syndrome is the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in the newborn population and the standard of care is to provide exogenous surfactant therapy. This saves lives and reduces respiratory complications but, despite treatment, a significant proportion of these infants go onto develop chronic lung disease, the severest form of which is bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Once developed, this is a multisystem disease and treatment is mostly supportive by using various therapeutic adjuncts. Some of these have been proven to be safe and effective in large randomized, controlled trials but similar evidence for other drugs is lacking. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview and critically appraise the available scientific evidence for or against their use in routine practice.
authors.affiliation: University of Durham & The James Cook University Hospital, Department of Neonatal Medicine, Marton Road, Middlesbrough TS4 3BW, UK.
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Win
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tin
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: bronchopulmonary dysplasia; newborn; respiratory distress syndrome