ABSTRACT
Objective: Several clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of hypothermia in neonates with encephalopathy have shown significant reduction in death and disability at 18-month follow-up.
We sought to: 1) evaluate how the use of hypothermia for neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is changing in U.S. clinical practice, 2) determine which methods and devices for delivering hypothermia are being used, and 3) evaluate any differences in the course and outcomes of neonates treated with whole body cooling compared with head cooling.
Study design: The study comprised a descriptive review of neonates from a network of 330 neonatal intensive care units, reported to the Pediatrix Clinical Data Warehouse (CDW). Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for variables associated with an increased risk for adverse events.
Results: Between January 2008 and December 2011, 401,328 patients were reported to the CDW; 810 (0.2%) were treated with hypothermia. The number of neonates treated with hypothermia in neonatal intensive care increased significantly between 2008 and 2011 from 0.08% to 0.4%. The number of centers that provided hypothermia increased from 24 in 2008 to 82 in 2011. The most common method of treatment was whole body cooling (626/801, 77%); 184 babies (23%) were treated with head cooling. Neonates treated with whole body cooling more often experienced thrombocytopenia, coagulopathy, and/or cholestasis in the first postnatal days. Reports of liver