Volume 20, Issue 1, Page 41 - January/February 2000

Journal of Perinatology

January/February 2000, Volume 20, Issue 1, Pages 41 - 45

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Original Article

Pulmonary Function and Electrolyte Balance Following Spironolactone Treatment in Preterm Infants With Chronic Lung Disease: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized Trial
David J. Hoffman, MD¹, Jeffrey S. Gerdes, MD² & Soraya Abbasi, MD²
¹Department of Neonatology (D. J. H.), Reading Hospital Medical Center, West Reading, PA; ²Section on Newborn Pediatrics (J. S. G., S. A.), Pennsylvania Hospital, and Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.

Correspondence to: Jeffrey S. Gerdes, MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

This work was funded by the Newborn Pediatrics Research Fund. D. J. H. was supported in part by a training grant from the National Institutes of Health (HL-07027).

Presented in part at the annual meeting of The Society for Pediatric Research, Washington, DC, May 1997.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To study the effect of spironolactone on dietary electrolyte supplementation, pulmonary function, and electrolyte balance in premature infants with chronic lung disease.
STUDY DESIGN
A double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial was designed to study two groups of low birth weight infants with chronic lung disease at Pennsylvania Hospital. The placebo group received chlorothiazide and a placebo, and the spironolactone group received chlorothiazide and spironolactone during the 2-week study period. A two-tailed t-test was used to determine equivalence between the two groups.
RESULTS
Pulmonary compliance, resistance and tidal volume, serum sodium and potassium, and FIO₂, were not statistically different between the two groups. The need for sodium and/or potassium chloride did not differ between the two groups, nor did the quantity of each salt.
CONCLUSION The addition of spironolactone did not reduce the requirement for supplemental electrolytes, nor did it improve pulmonary mechanics or electrolyte balance.