Lane 1993.

Study characteristics
Methods	Randomised controlled trial
Participants	Preterm infants (gestational age 29 to 36 weeks), aged < 24 hours.
Interventions	1. Prophylactic application of water‐in‐oil emollient (Eucerin Creme, Beiersdorf, Inc.) twice daily: N = 17 2. No emollient (standard skin care): N = 17 Intervention applied for 16 days.
Outcomes	Invasive infection. Mortality (no deaths).
Notes	Setting: Departments of Dermatology and Pediatrics, Stanford University, California, early 1990s (single centre). Clarification of methods and outcomes courtesy of Professor Alfred Lane (May 2014).
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	Sealed envelopes
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Unmasked parents and caregivers
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Unmasked clinicians and investigators
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Complete follow‐up
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Unlikely
Other bias	Low risk	No evidence of baseline imbalance