Oral Vitamin K for newborns?

[PharmacistReb]

Has anyone done any research on the topic on oral Vitamin K for newborns? There is soon to be a drug shortage of the injectable form and I'm curious if anyone has looked into using the oral form in the event compounding pharmacies don't provide the product (or at a reasonable cost).

Thanks in advance!

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[MiniNMD]

Yikes there better not be a shortage of injectable K for newborns.

The teaching I've always received is that we don't do oral vitamin K in the US and not to bother offering it to parents who try and refuse injected vitamin K cause it's just not available but that it is sometimes offered in Europe. The explanation I've heard is that it's much easier to achieve the target level of Vitamin K with a single injected dose and I've been taught that there's no good data to support preventing hemolytic disease of the newborn with oral vitamin K. That being said I've just gone along with injected Vitamin K or risk hemolytic disease in my discussion with parents trying to refuse and never actually looked into the alternative.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

I do not know of more recent data than is reflected in these two abstracts.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11034761

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8564900

Bottom line is that multi-dose oral is probably a reasonable alternative but the multi-dose approach requires follow-up doses after the initial hospitalization that are not generally a part of pediatric care in the US. Single dose appears better than nothing but probably not as good as IM, without clear data.

I would be interested if anyone knows of more recent data, which would likely come from Europe.

 

[Smiles91084]

I sometimes already prescribe the oral form. The dose for newborns is twice that of injectable form.

 

[facetguy]

Is there a transdermal version on the market?