| Methods |
Randomised controlled trial |
| Participants |
Babies |
| Interventions |
Ampicillin
Placebo |
| Outcomes |
Length of hospital stay
Symptoms (not specified)
Switch to treatment arm
Death |
| Notes |
No deaths or apparent side effects reported from the use of ampicillin |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Randomised |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Risk unclear |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Patients were blinded but not doctors nor outcome assessors |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
No intention‐to‐treat analysis but withdrawal rates were acceptable |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
|
| Other bias |
Unclear risk |
Funding sources do not appear to be identified. Beechams Research Laboratories supplied both the ampicillin and the placebo |
