Soubasi 1993

Methods	Randomised double‐blind controlled trial Study location: single centre in Thessaloniki, Greece Study period: not stated
Participants	44 newborn infants with birth weight under 1500 grams, age 1 to 7 days
Interventions	EPO group (n = 25) received 150 IU/kg/dose of EPO (Cilag AG, Zug, Switzerland) twice a week (300 IU/kg/week, low dose) during 4 weeks. Control group (n = 19) received no placebo. From the 15th day of life, iron was started at 3 mg/kg/d (low dose) in all infants.
Outcomes	Number of transfusions per infant Sepsis IVH Days on ventilator
Notes	It is not stated whether infants who had received blood transfusions before study entry were included. Transfusion guidelines were in place.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Random number table
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Blinding of randomisation: yes
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"The doctors in clinical charge were unaware of the treatment or control status of the babies".
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"The doctors in clinical charge were unaware of the treatment or control status of the babies".
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