Original articleEffect of Domperidone on QT Interval in Neonates
Section snippets
Methods
This study was conducted in neonates and infants, regardless of their gestational age (GA), admitted to a neonatology unit of Amiens University Hospital (France) between May 2005 and May 2006.
All infants requiring oral domperidone regardless of the indication were included. To comply with precautions similar to those recommended by the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products for cisapride, a prolonged ECG was performed in these infants before and after starting treatment. Routine
Results
The indication for domperidone therapy was gastroesophageal reflux in every case (Table). Domperidone was administered orally (1 mg/mL oral suspension) in 3 or 4 divided doses, 15 to 20 minutes before feeds. The mean daily dosage was 1.3 ± 0.7 mg/kg/day. Two infants accidentally received doses higher than the therapeutic range (>2.4 mg/kg/day), but neither of them developed QTc prolongation.
The first ECG was systematically performed before starting domperidone therapy, usually several hours
Discussion
This study reports QTc prolongation induced by oral domperidone; there have been a few isolated cases.9 The ΔQTc observed in this study was higher than the physiologic prolongation reported in the literature that is observed up until the 4th month of life and then declines. Schwartz et al reported a ΔQTc of 12 msec between the 4th day of life and the end of the 2nd month and Alimurung et al10 reported a value of 24 msec between the end of the 1st months and the end of the 4th month.
Several
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2016, Pediatrics and NeonatologyCitation Excerpt :The authors recommended obtaining 12 ECGs both before and after taking domperidone. Djeddi et al6 reported that QTc increased more than 12 milliseconds in 48% of 31 infants treated with domperidone. The risk factors for domperidone-induced QTc prolongation identified in this study were advanced gestational age and hyperkalemia.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.