1. Characteristics of excluded reviews.

Review ID and title	Reason for exclusion
Atherton 2012 Email for clinical communication between patients/caregivers and healthcare professionals	Wrong participants (not neonates): "We included all healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers regardless of age, gender and ethnicity. We considered participants originating the email communication, receiving the email communication and copied into the email communication"
Barlow 2015 Parent‐infant psychotherapy for improving parental and infant mental health	Wrong participants (not neonates): "We included studies involving parent‐infant dyads in which the parent was experiencing mental health problems, domestic abuse or substance dependency, with or without the infant showing signs of attachment or dysregulation problems, or both attachment and dysregulation problems. We included all infants irrespective of the presence of problems such as low birthweight, prematurity or disabilities. We included studies targeting infants and toddlers in which the mean age of the infant participants was 24 months or less at the point of referral. We included studies targeting all parents (i.e. including fathers, birth parents, adoptive and kinship parents, but not foster parents)"
Bredemeyer 2012 Body positioning for spontaneously breathing preterm infants with apnoea	Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include the following: Short‐term motor development up to about 12 months' corrected age, as measured by a validated assessment tool Longer‐term motor development up to about 2 years' corrected age, as measured by a validated assessment tool Neurodevelopment assessed at about 2 years' corrected age, as measured by a validated assessment tool No outcome data for these outcomes
Brown 2016 C‐reactive protein for diagnosing late‐onset infection in newborn infants	Protocol for diagnostic test accuracy review
Carr 2003 G‐CSF and GM‐CSF for treating or preventing neonatal infections	Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Long‐term outcomes: death and disability at or > 1 year from birth No outcome data for cerebral palsy (single study results reported "cognition, language and social developmental performance scores were within the normal range for age and motor deficits were 'typical of high‐risk, low birth weight neonates'. However there was no comparison made between G‐CSF and control infants"
Davis 2001 Intravenous dexamethasone for extubation of newborn infants	No pre‐specified outcome focused on development/disability at follow‐up
Ethawi 2016 High‐frequency jet ventilation vs high‐frequency oscillatory ventilation for pulmonary dysfunction in preterm infants	Secondary neonatal outcomes pre‐specified include: Neurodevelopmental outcomes including motor, mental, and sensory outcomes at 2 years of age (study author defined) No outcome data for this outcome (no included trials)
Hancock 2013 Treatment of infantile spasms	Outcomes pre‐specified include: Long‐term psychomotor development No outcome data for cerebral palsy (single‐study results reported related to BSID; VABS; 'cognitive development'; Japanese Tumor Scale; DDST)
Jones 2003 Antiviral therapy for symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection in neonates and infants up to 3 months of age	Protocol Primary outcomes pre‐specified include: Mortality at 1 year of life and the presence of cognitive, developmental, audiological, motor, or visual impairment upon completion of therapy, at follow‐up at 1 year of life, and in later childhood
Lewin 2010 Lay health workers in primary and community health care for maternal and child health and management of infectious diseases	No pre‐specified outcome focused on development/disability at follow‐up
Malviya 2013 Surgical vs medical treatment with cyclo‐oxygenase inhibitors for symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus in preterm infants	Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Neurodevelopmental outcome (neurodevelopmental outcome assessed by a standardised and validated assessment tool, a child developmental specialist, or both) at any age (outcome data will be grouped at 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 months, if available) No outcome data for this outcome
Morag 2016 Cycled light in the intensive care unit for preterm and low birthweight infants	Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Long‐term outcomes: growth and neurodevelopment, including visual and auditory outcomes at any age as reported by study authors using standardised and validated tests No outcome data for these outcomes
Okwundu 2014 Transcutaneous screening for hyperbilirubinaemia in neonates	Protocol No pre‐specified outcome focused on development/disability at follow‐up
Pammi 2011 Granulocyte transfusions for neonates with confirmed or suspected sepsis and neutropaenia	Primary outcomes pre‐specified include: Neurological outcome at 1 year of age or later (neurodevelopmental outcome as assessed by any validated test) No outcome data for this outcome
Pammi 2015 Molecular assays for diagnosis of sepsis in neonates	Protocol for diagnostic test accuracy review
Pammi 2015b Pentoxifylline for treatment of sepsis and necrotising enterocolitis in neonates	Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Neurological outcome at 2 or more years of age (neurodevelopmental outcome as assessed by a validated test) No outcome data for this outcome
Scholefield 2013 Hypothermia for neuroprotection in children after cardiopulmonary arrest	Primary outcomes pre‐specified include: Best neurological outcome at hospital discharge and within the first year as assessed by the Paediatric Cerebral Performance Category score and other validated outcome scores for use in children (e.g. VABS) No outcome data for these outcomes (no included trials)
Shah 2012 Intraventricular antibiotics for bacterial meningitis in neonates	Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Neurodevelopmental outcome (neurodevelopmental outcome as assessed by a standardised and validated assessment tool or a child developmental specialist, or both) at any age (outcome data will be grouped at 12, 18, and 24 months, if available) No outcome data for this outcome
Suresh 2003 Metalloporphyrins for treatment of unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia in neonates	Outcomes pre‐specified include: Presence of neurodevelopmental sequelae (i.e. any sensory, motor, cognitive, psychological, or behavioural impairment reported on follow‐up any time after the neonatal period) Degree of such neurodevelopmental impairment (expressed as mean or median scores on tests of neurodevelopmental function performed any time after the neonatal period) No outcome data for these outcomes
Thukral 2015 Periodic change of body position under phototherapy in term and late preterm neonates with hyperbilirubinaemia	Protocol Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Incidence of BIND (proportion). BIND or subtle encephalopathy shall be defined as neurological, cognitive, learning, or movement disorders; isolated hearing loss; or auditory dysfunction in the presence of hyperbilirubinaemia (Bergman 1985; Hyman 1969; Johnson 1974; Rubin 1979; Scheldt 1977)
Upadhyay 2016 Short‐duration vs standard‐duration antibiotic regimens for treatment of neonatal bacterial infection	Protocol Secondary outcomes pre‐specified include: Survival without major disability at 18 to 24 months' corrected age (proportion)
Ward 2003 Steroid therapy for meconium aspiration syndrome in newborn infants	Primary outcomes pre‐specified include: Long‐term growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed at age 1, 2, and 5 years with validated assessment tools No outcome data for this outcome
Whitelaw 2001 Diuretic therapy for newborn infants with post‐haemorrhagic ventricular dilatation	Outcomes pre‐specified include: Moderate to severe long‐term motor disability at 1 to 3 years of age Combined outcome: death or (moderate to severe) long‐term disability at 1 to 3 years of age Data reported for these outcomes; no outcome data for cerebral palsy. "The larger trial showed that acetazolamide and furosemide treatment resulted in a borderline increase in the risk for motor impairment at one year (RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.02 ‐ 1.58; RD 0.16, 95% CI 0.02 ‐ 0.31), but did not significantly affect the risk for the combined outcome of delay, disability or motor impairment among survivors, or the risk of the combined outcome of death, delay, disability or impairment at one year"
Whitelaw 2001b Repeated lumbar or ventricular punctures in newborns with intraventricular haemorrhage	Outcomes pre‐specified include: Surviving with major disability for 12 months or longer in survivors Surviving with multiple neurodevelopmental impairments Data reported for these outcomes; no outcome data for cerebral palsy. "The tables and figures show that none of the trials found a significant effect of CSF tapping on a) need for shunt b) death c) major disability in survivors d) multiple disability in survivors e) death or disability. Similarly, meta‐analysis of the results of all included trials shows no significant effect of CSF tapping on any of these outcomes"
Woodgate 2001 Permissive hypercapnia for prevention of morbidity and mortality in mechanically ventilated newborn infants	Outcomes pre‐specified include: Neurodevelopmental outcome No outcome data for this outcome

Abbreviations: BIND: bilirubin‐induced neurological dysfunction; BSID: Bayley Scales of Infant Development; CI: confidence interval; CSF: cerebrospinal fluid; DDST: Denver Developmental Screening Test; G‐CSF: granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor; GM‐CSF: granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor; RD: risk difference; RR: risk ratio; VABS: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales.