Outcomes
The primary outcomes were: 1) Requirement of invasive mechanical
ventilation (MV) within the first 7 days of randomisation; 2) treatment
failure, defined as requirement of an additional form of respiratory
support for various reasons such as respiratory acidosis, hypoxemia or
severe apnea within the first 7 days of randomisation. The secondary
outcomes included incidence of mortality (neonatal and before
discharge), incidence of Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) defined as
oxygen requirement at 36 weeks of post menstrual age, incidence of
mortality or BPD, incidence of air leak, incidence of severe IVH defined
as Grade > 213, incidence of NEC stage
>/= 214, incidence of PDA requiring
medical therapy or surgical intervention, incidence of severe ROP
defined as those requiring laser therapy and or intra-vitreal
anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and / or stage
>/= 3 as per ICROP15 and incidence of
nasal injury.