Nearly one in four babies in NICUs receive acid suppressing medication
Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - 09:50
in Health & Medicine
Though not approved for use in newborns, doctors prescribe the drugs to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and to help with other conditions diagnosed in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). However, several published studies have associated the use of some acid suppression medications in hospitalized high-risk babies with infections, necrotizing enterocolitis and increased risk of death. From January 2006 through March 2013, 28,989 of 122,002 of babies, or 23.8 percent, received a histamine-2 receptor antagonist or proton pump inhibitor.