Ellen de Kort

110 Chapter 7 preceding 24 hours and previous inclusion in the trial. The use of propofol was left to the discretion of the attending physician. If the hemodynamic status was judged to be sufficiently stable to use propofol, the patient could be included. Patients were stratified into eight different groups by GA and PNA (Figure 1), based on expected variation in effect and propofol clearance. Gestational age Postnatal age Group allocation <26 weeks <10 days Group 1, n = 18 ≥10 days Group 2, n = 8 26 0/7 - 29 6/7 weeks <10 days Group 3, n = 25 ≥10 days Group 4, n = 10 30 0/7 - 36 6/7 weeks <10 days Group 5, n = 26 ≥10 days Group 6, n = 1 ≥37 weeks <10 days Group 7, n = 2 ≥10 days Group 8, n = 1 Figure 1. Group allocation Interventions Intubation procedure Propofol was used as standard of care for endotracheal intubation in our units. Propofol (Fresenius Kabi, Schelle, Belgium) was administered as intravenous bolus followed by a saline flush for a total duration of 30 s. After propofol administration, the pre-intubation sedation level was assessed every 30 s up to 3 min after the infusion, using the Intubation Readiness Score (IRS). 22 When the pre-intubation sedation level was adequate, intubation was continued. In the case of insufficient sedation after 3 min, additional propofol was administered until sufficient sedation was reached. The amount of each additional propofol dose was left to the discretion of the attending physician. After intubation, the quality of intubation was measured by the Viby-Mogensen intubation score. 23 Data regarding propofol doses and intubation attempts were reported.