Shinwell 1996.

Study characteristics
Methods	Multi‐centre double‐blind randomised controlled trial
Participants	Inclusion: 248 preterm infants with birth weight 500 grams to 2000 grams, 1 to 3 days old, requiring mechanical ventilation with > 40% oxygen Exclusions: active bleeding, hypertension, hyperglycaemia, active infection, lethal congenital anomaly
Interventions	Intravenous dexamethasone 0.25 mg/kg every 12 hours 6 times Controls given saline placebo
Outcomes	Mortality Survival with no O₂ Mechanical ventilation at 3 and 7 days BPD Duration in hospital IVH PVL Pneumothorax PIE PDA Sepsis Hypertension Hyperglycaemia
Notes	—
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Random allocation, stratified by centre and birth weight, from random numbers list in the pharmacy
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Allocation concealment: yes
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of intervention: yes
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of outcome measurement: yes
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Complete follow‐up: yes for short‐term; 84% for long‐term
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All prespecified outcomes reported
Other bias	Low risk	None