Scanlon 1992.

Methods	Single centre Blinding of randomization ‐ yes Blinding of intervention ‐ no Complete followup ‐ no success rates (>50% reduction in apnea) 4 infants on caffeine and 2 infants on theophylline were excluded from analysis because of a defined cause of apnea ‐ septicaemia, neurological abnormality or oesophageal reflux. All were examined for mean rates of apnea Blinding of outcome measure ‐ no
Participants	30 preterm infants <31 week gestation with apnea (≥ 10 in 8 hours or 4 in 1 hour)
Interventions	Exp: standard caffeine = loading dose 12.5 mg/kg and maintenance 3 mg/kg/24 hours Control : theophylline = loading dose 7.5 mg/kg/8hrs (aiming for plasma levels of 13 ‐ 20 mg/l) There was also a group that received higher dose caffeine, 25mg/kg load and 6 mg/kg/24 hrs, maintenance which is not included in this review.
Outcomes	Apnea frequency over 24 hours reported after one day and after 2 days Number of infants with > 50 % reduction in apnea frequency (12 in caffeine group and 14 in theophylline group)
Notes	Apnea defined as a decrease in heart rate of 40 beats per minute with cessation of breathing and requiring stimulation
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Adequate
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Interventions and outcomes not blinded
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	All examined
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	No selective reporting
Other bias	Low risk	None in publication