Kremenopoulos 1997A.

Methods	Randomised controlled study Study location: Department of Neonatology, University of Thessaloniki, Hippokratio Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece Study period: not stated
Participants	50 neonates with BW ≤ 1500 grams, PMA ≤ 31 weeks Infants who had received transfusion before enrolment were included.
Interventions	EPO group received rhEPO (Cilag A.G., Zug, Switzerland) 3 × 250 U/kg/week SC (750 U/kg/week – high dose) (n = 24). Treatment was given for 6 weeks. Control group (n = 26) received no intervention. All infants received elemental iron 3 mg/kg/d. Treatment was initiated at 3 to 7 days – early EPO.
Outcomes	Transfusions/patient Patients receiving transfusions
Notes	Retrospectively, infants were divided into those without complications (without or with minimal signs of respiratory distress and no signs of sepsis) and those with complications requiring mechanical ventilation (RDS and sepsis with positive blood culture) for longer than 3 days, who were characterised as having complications. Outcomes were reported separately for infants without complications (we listed those outcomes under Kremenopoulos 1997A) and for infants with complications (we listed those outcomes under Kremenopoulos 1997B). An additional group of 35 infants (Group B) were enrolled at 3 to 8 weeks and will be included in the late EPO review. No information was provided regarding transfusion guidelines for either group.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information provided
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"In group A 50 infants were randomly assigned".
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	No placebo was used.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	No placebo was used.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Outcomes were reported for all enrolled infants.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	The protocol for the study was not available to us, so we cannot judge if whether deviations from the protocol occurred.
Other bias	Low risk	Appears free of other bias