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Academic Performance, Motor Function, and Behavior 11 Years After Neonatal Caffeine Citrate Therapy for Apnea of Prematurity: An 11-Year Follow-up of the CAP Randomized Clinical Trial.
Schmidt, Barbara MD; MSc 1,2; Roberts, Robin S. MSc 1; Anderson, Peter J. PhD 3,4,5; Asztalos, Elizabeth V. MD; MSc 6; Costantini, Lorrie BA 1; Davis, Peter G. MD 4,5,7; Dewey, Deborah PhD 8,9; D'Ilario, Judy RN 1; Doyle, Lex W. MD; MSc 3,4,5,7; Grunau, Ruth E. PhD 10,11; Moddemann, Diane MD; MEd 12; Nelson, Harvey MSc 1; Ohlsson, Arne MD; MSc 6; Solimano, Alfonso MD 11; Tin, Win MD 13
[Article] JAMA Pediatrics. 171(6):564-572, June 2017.

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Importance: Caffeine citrate therapy for apnea of prematurity reduces the rates of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, severe retinopathy, and neurodevelopmental disability at 18 months and may improve motor function at 5 years.

Objective: To evaluate whether neonatal caffeine therapy is associated with improved functional outcomes 11 years later.

Design, Setting, and Participants: A follow-up study was conducted at 14 academic hospitals in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom from May 7, 2011, to May 27, 2016, of English- or French-speaking children who had been enrolled in the randomized, placebo-controlled Caffeine for Apnea of Prematurity trial between October 11, 1999, and October 22, 2004. A total of 1202 children with birth weights of 500 to 1250 g were eligible for this study; 920 (76.5%) had adequate data for the main outcome.

Interventions: Caffeine citrate or placebo until drug therapy for apnea of prematurity was no longer needed.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Functional impairment was a composite of poor academic performance (defined as at least 1 standard score greater than 2 SD below the mean on the Wide Range Achievement Test-4), motor impairment (defined as a percentile rank of <=5 on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition), and behavior problems (defined as a Total Problem T score >=2 SD above the mean on the Child Behavior Checklist).

Results: Among the 920 children (444 females and 476 males; median age, 11.4 years [interquartile range, 11.1-11.8 years]), the combined rates of functional impairment were not significantly different between the 457 children assigned to receive caffeine compared with the 463 children assigned to receive placebo (145 [31.7%] vs 174 [37.6%]; adjusted odds ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.59-1.02; P = .07). With all available data, including those from up to 24 Swedish trial participants, the rates of poor academic performance on 1 or more of 4 subtests (66 of 458 [14.4%] vs 61 of 462 [13.2%]; adjusted odds ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.77-1.61; P = .58) and behavior problems (52 of 476 [10.9%] vs 40 of 481 [8.3%]; adjusted odds ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 0.85-2.07; P = .22) were broadly similar between the group that received caffeine and the group that received placebo. However, caffeine therapy was associated with a reduced risk of motor impairment compared with placebo (90 of 457 [19.7%] vs 130 of 473 [27.5%]; adjusted odds ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.48-0.90; P = .009).

Conclusions and Relevance: Caffeine therapy for apnea of prematurity did not significantly reduce the combined rate of academic, motor, and behavioral impairments but was associated with a reduced risk of motor impairment in 11-year-old children with very low birth weight. At the doses used in this trial, neonatal caffeine therapy is effective and safe into middle school age.

Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00182312; isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN44364365