NICU Antibiotics and Outcomes (NANO) Follow-up Study

The multidisciplinary team launched the NANO (NICU Antibiotics and Outcomes) Trial to study the longstanding clinical practice of empirically administering intravenous antibiotics to very preterm infants. The NANO trial is an 802-patient,13-site randomized blinded controlled trial (R01HD09757801) discerning whether administration of antibiotics within the first three days of life increases the incidence of short-term, life-threatening complications among very preterm infants. The proposed NANO follow-up study will build upon the parent NANO trial to determine whether avoiding antibiotics in very preterm infants - a simple, cost-effective intervention - improves neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes during the toddler years. Evaluation of children enrolled in the proposed NANO follow-up study will include serial comprehensive, standardized assessments of motor, cognitive, behavioral and adaptive outcomes. To support retention and provide an important early assessment, a first virtual visit at 1 year of age will include the Hammersmith Infant Neurologic Exam (HINE) and the Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (DAYC-2). A second comprehensive follow-up visit in person at 2 years will include the Bayley Scales of Infant Development 4th ed., Gross Motor Function Classification System, Child Behavior Checklist for ages 1.5-5, and the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised, with Follow-up. In the NANO follow-up trial, outcomes will be assessed using the Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR), an innovative, patient-centered statistical approach used in clinical trials to evaluate the global benefits and risks of an intervention. The ordinal neonatal follow-up endpoint composite scale, to be named neoDOOR, will be developed by both clinicians and families. Stakeholder meetings will develop consensus rankings of individual and composite outcomes of different severities reported by the above developmental assessments. Neonatal biospecimens collected during the parent NANO trial will allow for additional exploratory analyses evaluating interactions among genetics, environment, and microbiota with antibiotic exposure and long-term outcomes. Through these assessments and evaluation, the investigators will provide substantial evidence for the use (or non-use) of early antibiotics for very preterm infants at birth.