Heart Rate Variability Does Not Predict Recurrence of Apnoea of Prematurity After Ceasing Caffeine Therapy: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Aim: We evaluated whether sample entropy of heart rate time series could serve as a biomarker for guiding caffeine cessation in preterm infants treated for apnoea of prematurity (AOP). We also assessed associations of sample entropy with weeks of gestation, clinical morbidity, AOP frequency and caffeine reinitiation.

Methods: We conducted a prospective single-centre study at the University Children's Hospital Basel, Switzerland, from July 2019 to June 2020.