Salvado 2000

Methods	Randomised double‐blind controlled clinical trial Study location: single centre, Chile Study period: April 1998 to December 1999
Participants	60 newborn infants under 1500 grams birth weight; mean age at entry in the EPO group 7.75 ± 2.42 days, and mean age at entry in the control group 7.96 ± 2.44 days
Interventions	29 infants in the EPO group received r‐EPO (Eritropoyetina del Laboraorio Andromaco) 200 IU/kg SC, 3 times a week (600 IU/kg/week, high dose), during 4 weeks. 31 infants in the control group received similar volume of isotonic saline solution in similar fashion. All infants received oral iron at a dose of 3 mg/kg/d (low dose).
Outcomes	Number of transfusions per infant Sepsis IVH
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information presented
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"were randomised ina double‐blind fashion" ‐ but no specific information provided
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No specific information provided
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No specific information provided
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Complete follow‐up: yes
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	The protocol for the study was not available to us; therefore we cannot ascertain whether deviations from the protocol occurred.
Other bias	Low risk	Appears free of other bias