Precision Medicine in Neonates

Precision medicine can be defined as a structured approach to treat or prevent specific diseases based on inter-individual variability in genes (like polymorphisms), diseases (like gender, co-morbidity), environment (like drug exposure, nutrition), or lifestyle (like stress) (1). This concept also holds the promise to improve management (prevention or treatment) and subsequent outcome in critically ill newborns. Precision medicine (subgroup approaches) hereby serves as go between empirical (one treatment fits all) or stratified medicine (e.g., disease state or sex), and individualized (every newborn is unique) medicine (Figure 1).