Dopamine is widely used to manage blood pressure in preterm infants, while norepinephrine is predominantly used to treat septic shock in adults. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the University of Toronto compared the effectiveness of dopamine and norepinephrine in treating sepsis -related hypotension in preterm infants. The study was conducted for more than ten years and included 156 preterm infants who were born at < 35 weeks and divided them into two groups – one received norepinephrine, and the other received dopamine for sepsis-related hypotension .
The parameters compared between the two groups were pre-discharge mortality, episode-related mortality, and morbidity. Infants who received norepinephrine had higher mean airway pressure, heart rate, and a median fraction of inspired oxygen. The norepinephrine group also had lower pre-discharge mortality, episode-related…
