According to Medpage Today, preterm infants with respiratory distress appeared to do better with CPAP than nasal high-flow therapy in a randomized trial.

The difference in treatment failure was over 10 percentage points, and deemed so significant that it exceeded pre-specified limits and enrollment in the trial was stopped, reported Calum T. Roberts, MBChB, of Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues.

However, there were no significant between-group differences in other clinical outcomes, such as rates of intubation, bronchodysplasia, or rates of adverse events, they wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Roberts told MedPage Today by email that while other research has established that nasal high-flow is an effective mode of post-extubation support, no previous studies have appropriately assessed the efficacy of this therapy as the primary mode of respiratory support in this setting.

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