Table 1.

RCTs identified which compare mortality outcomes in babies receiving KMC to those receiving standard care

Study	References	Country	Case definition (numbers in trial)	Median day of commencing KMC	Outcome	Design/ limitations
1	Charpak et al.,8 1997a	Colombia (facility)	Neonates <2000 g (n = 746)	4 days	Mortality at 12 months but provided neonatal specific data	RCT—outcome assess not blinded
2	Suman et al.,15 2008	India (facility)	Neonates <2000 g (n = 206)	3.7 days	Mortality at 9 months but provided neonatal specific data	RCT—outcome assess not blinded
3	Worku et al.,16 2005	Ethiopia (facility)	Neonates <2000 g (n = 123)	10 h	Neonatal mortality	RCT—poor description of R and follow up
X	Sloan et al.,14 2008	Bangladesh (community)	All neonates (n = 4165) (<2000 g = 166 and analysis restricted to <2000 g)	4 h	Neonatal mortality	Cluster RCT, more erratic implementation of KMC. Birthweight data missing for 65%. Possible undercounting of deaths
X	Sloan et al.,17 1994a	Ecuador (facility)	Neonates <2000 g (n = 300)	12.4 days	Mortality at 6 months	RCT—outcome assess not blinded
X	Cattaneo et al.,18 1998a	Mexico, Indonesia, Ethiopia (facility)	Neonates 1000–1999 g (n = 285)	10 days	Pre-discharge mortality	RCT—outcome assess not blinded

X indicates not included in this analysis because intervention (KMC) only commenced after the first week of life and >75% of deaths in very low birth weight babies occur during this time. See text for details and sensitivity analysis.

^aIncluded in Cochrane 2003, Conde-Agudelo A et al.¹¹