A study suggests that caffeine helps to regulate breathing abnormalities of premature babies. Artificial breathing equipments are less in need for apnea when infants are treated with caffeine therapy and found to have a lower incidence of abnormal lung development a study says.
About 2,000 premature babies, who weighed below 1,250 grams, having a risk to develop interrupted or irregular breathing (apnea) were studied.
AdvertisementMore than 47 per cent of the infants (control group) in placebo need extra oxygen, whereas only 36 per cent of the infants who receive caffeine therapy needed extra oxygen when they reached 36 weeks.
When compared with infants on caffeine therapy, the control group infant needs an extra week of ventilator therapy to tackle apnea.