Study of Room Air Versus 60% Oxygen for Resuscitation of Premature Infants

The most appropriate initial oxygen concentration for the resuscitation of the extremely low birth weight infant has not been established using large well designed, randomized, blinded, prospective trials and the level of oxygen utilized by practitioners in this situation is highly variable. This proposed trial will use targeted oxygen saturation levels over the first 15 to 20 minutes of life to compare a low and a higher initial oxygen level for the resuscitation of such infants, and will be large enough to evaluate short term outcomes of survival without oxygen at 36 weeks and survival without retinopathy of prematurity, and the long term outcome of survival without significant neurodevelopmental impairment at 2 years of age. Such information is urgently required to provide an evidence basis for the initial oxygen concentration for resuscitation of these very preterm infants.