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Prevalence and safety of diazoxide in the neonatal intensive care unit

Journal of Perinatology volume 38, pages 1496–1502 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Diazoxide is used to treat infants with persistent hypoglycemia, but the prevalence of its use and adverse effects are not well described. We report demographic and clinical characteristics of infants treated with diazoxide in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Study design

Retrospective cohort study of infants 24–41 weeks’ gestation admitted to 392 NICUs from 1997–2016, comparing characteristics between hypoglycemic infants exposed/not exposed to diazoxide. For diazoxide courses > 1 day, we report percentages of infants starting diuretics and/or developing new ventilator/oxygen requirement during therapy.

Results

Among 1,249,466 infants, 185,832 had hypoglycemia; 1066/185,832 (0.57%) received diazoxide. Diazoxide use increased over time (P = 0.001). Infants receiving diazoxide varied from 0–14.9% among centers. New diuretic courses were associated with 91/664 (14%), and new oxygen or ventilator requirement during therapy was associated with 64/556 (12%) and 34/647 (5%), respectively.

Conclusions

Diazoxide use in NICU settings has increased over time. Infants receiving diazoxide commonly received diuretics.

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Acknowledgements

Funding

This work was funded under National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) contract HHSN275201000003I (principal investigator: Benjamin) for the Pediatric Trials Network.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA

    Keyaria D. Gray, Mihai Puia-Dumitrescu, C. Michael Cotten, Robert Benjamin, Daniel K. Benjamin Jr. & Rachel G. Greenberg

  2. Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC, USA

    Kathryn Dudash, Carla Escobar, Colman Freel, Tylah Harrison, Chandler McMillan, Mihai Puia-Dumitrescu, Daniel K. Benjamin Jr. & Rachel G. Greenberg

  3. Pediatrix Medical Group Inc., Sunrise, FL, USA

    Reese H. Clark

Authors
  1. Keyaria D. Gray
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  2. Kathryn Dudash
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on behalf of the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act–Pediatric Trials Network Steering Committee

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel G. Greenberg.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. DK Benjamin receives support from the National Institutes of Health (award 2K24HD058735-06, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HHSN275201000003I), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (HHSN272201500006I), ECHO Program (1U2COD023375-01), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (1U24TR001608-01); he also receives research support from Cempra Pharmaceuticals (subaward to HHSO100201300009C) and consulting payments from AstraZeneca, Cempra, Shionogi Inc., The Medicines Company, Allergan, Astellas Pharma, Cidara Therapeutics, Purdue Pharma, and UCB Biosciences, Inc. Dr. R Benjamin serves on the Speaker’s Bureau for Pfizer. Dr. Clark is an employee of Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc. Dr. Cotten receives grant funding from the NIH (5U10 HD040492-16 and 1R01-EY025009-01A1). Dr. Greenberg receives salary support for research from NIH awards (HHSN 275201000003I, HHSN 272201300017I, HHSN200201253663), and from the Food and Drug Administration (HHSF223201610082C). The other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Gray, K.D., Dudash, K., Escobar, C. et al. Prevalence and safety of diazoxide in the neonatal intensive care unit. J Perinatol 38, 1496–1502 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-018-0218-4

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