The BASE Trial

Bicarbonate for AcidosiS in very pretErm babies: a randomised clinical trial

The BASE trial is looking at the use of sodium bicarbonate for metabolic acidosis in very preterm babies.

The project is designed to answer the question: In very preterm babies with metabolic acidosis, does using sodium bicarbonate or not impact their health and development in the short and long term?

To answer this question, very preterm babies (born before 31 weeks of gestation) with metabolic acidosis will be put at random into one of two groups:

• Will be given sodium bicarbonate when they have metabolic acidosis
• Will not be given sodium bicarbonate when they have metabolic acidosis

We will then compare the two groups to find out whether giving sodium bicarbonate or not affects very preterm babies' health in the short term. Babies will also be followed up until they are 2 years old to understand if there are any longer-term effects of giving sodium bicarbonate or not on development.

The trial will recruit 3,764 infants in approximately 45 neonatal units in the UK over a 3 year recruitment period.

BASE is coordinated by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit Clinical Trial Unit (NPEU CTU) at the University of Oxford and is funded by the National Institute of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme.

People

Professor Samantha Johnson is a co-investigator on this project, leading the developmental follow-up of children at two years of age.

• More information is available on the BASE webpage