Clinical characteristics for infants with birth weight ⩽1000 g
| Clinical characteristics | Dopamine (n=18) | No dopamine (n=23) | Significance† (p value) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth weight (g) | 868 (54) | 816 (99) | 0.03 WA |
| Gestational age (weeks) | 26.3 (0.8) | 26.8 (1.2) | 0.14 WA |
| Hypotension | 18/18 (100%) | 11/23 (48%) | 0.001 |
| Colloid treatment | 18/18 (100%) | 10/23 (43%) | 0.0004 |
| Intraventricular haemorrhage | 9/18 (50%) | 6/23 (25%) | 0.21 |
| Sepsis | 1/18 (6%) | 1/23 (4%) | 1.00 |
| Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) | 10/18 (56%) | 9/23 (39%) | 0.46 |
| Spontaneous closure of PDA | 0/18 (0%) | 2/23 (9%) | 0.58 |
| Indomethacin closure of PDA | 9/18 (50%) | 7/23 (30%) | 0.34 |
| Ligated PDA | 1/18 (6%) | 0/23 (0%) | 0.90 |
| Hyaline membrane disease | 17/18 (94%) | 13/23 (57%) | 0.02 |
| Oxygen requirement at day 2 (5) | 34 (11) | 27 (11) | 0.02 MW |
| Days to first trial of extubation | 17.4 (14.4) | 9.8 (9.7) | 0.02 MW |
| Apgar score at 1 minute | 5.8 (2.3) | 5.3 (2.9) | 0.60 p(t) |
| Apgar score at 5 minutes | 7.5 (1.5) | 7.5 (2.4) | 0.94 p(t) |
| Bronchopulmonary dysplasia | 14/18 (78%) | 16/23 (70%) | 0.82 |
| Dexamethasone treatment | 13/18 (72%) | 15/23 (65%) | 0.89 |
↵Values are mean (SD) for continuous data and number (%) of infants for categorical data. †WA = Welch–Aspint test; MW = Mann–Whitney comparison; p(t)=Student’s t test. χ2test with Yates’s correction were used for categorical data.