Table 4 Surgical treatment vs medical treatment.
| Description | Surgical NEC | Medical NEC | Number of studies | I2 (%) | Odds ratio (95% CI) | p Value | References | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | N | n | N | ||||||
| Cerebral palsy | 35 | 144 | 15 | 150 | 2 | 53.0 | 2.74 (1.44 to 5.21) | 0.002 | 10,21 |
| Visual impairment | 6 | 142 | 3 | 150 | 2 | 28.9 | 2.40 (0.56 to 10.23) | 0.24 | 10,21 |
| Hearing impairment | 6 | 143 | 1 | 150 | 2 | 0 | 4.93 (0.81 to 29.91) | 0.08 | 10,21 |
| Cognitive impairment | 65 | 161 | 48 | 154 | 3 | 0 | 1.54 (0.96 to 2.48) | 0.07 | 10,14,21 |
| Psychomotor impairment | 47 | 125 | 30 | 123 | 2 | 0 | 1.85 (1.07 to 3.21) | 0.03 | 10,21,24 |
| Neurodevelopmental impairment | 97 | 176 | 62 | 189 | 5 | 44.8 | 2.34 (1.51 to 3.60) | 0.0001 | 10,14,18,21,24 |
The p values shown are the significance of the tests for overall effect for each outcome. n, number affected; N, total number of patients; NEC, necrotizing enterocolitis; I2 = heterogeneity statistic