| Methods |
Double‐blind randomised controlled trial |
| Participants |
20 very low birth weight infants who were ventilator‐dependent at 28 days' postnatal age |
| Interventions |
6‐Day course of intravenous dexamethasone 0.50 mg/kg/d for 3 days followed by 0.30 mg/kg/d for the final 3 days
Equal volume of saline placebo |
| Outcomes |
Mortality, median number of days ventilated after treatment, days of apnoeic spells, length of hospital stay, weight and head circumference at 2 years, corrected MDI, retinopathy of prematurity, cerebral palsy in survivors, blindness in survivors |
| Notes |
Published as an abstract only |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Random assignment: method not stated |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Allocation concealment: yes |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Blinding of intervention: probably |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Blinding of intervention: probably |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Blinding of outcome measurements: yes |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Complete follow‐up: yes |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
Outcomes not clearly specified |
