Cummings 1989.

Methods	Double‐blind randomised controlled trial
Participants	36 two‐week‐old infants < 1251 grams birth weight, < 31 weeks, needing mechanical ventilation and > 29% oxygen at entry Exclusions: PDA, renal failure, sepsis Infants in control group received a saline placebo.
Interventions	Dexamethasone 0.5 mg/kg/d for 3 days, 0.3 mg/kg/d for 3 days, then reduced by 10% every 3 days to 0.1 mg/kg/d for 3 days, then alternate days for 2 days or 0.5 mg/kg/d for 3 days, reduced by 50% every 3 days to 0.06 mg/kg/d for 3 days, then alternate days for 7 days
Outcomes	Durations of intermittent positive‐pressure ventilation (IPPV), oxygen, and hospital stay; rates of pneumothorax, hyperglycaemia, sepsis, GI bleeding, transfusions, ROP, mortality; growth and development.
Notes	—
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Randomised allocation to 1 of 3 groups via a table of random numbers kept in the pharmacy
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Randomised allocation to 1 of 3 groups via a table of random numbers kept in the pharmacy Blinding of randomisation: yes
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of intervention: yes
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of intervention: yes
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of outcome measurement: yes
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Complete follow‐up: yes Blinding of outcome measurement: yes
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	All prespecified outcomes reported