Tag Archives: Randomized Controlled Trials

Oxygen is toxic in older kids too!

Posted on 22 February 2024 by Keith Barrington

A new large RCT from PICUs in the UK randomly compared 2 saturation target ranges, 88-92 and >94%. (Peters MJ, et al. Conservative versus liberal oxygenation targets in critically ill children (Oxy-PICU): a UK multicentre, open, parallel-group, randomised clinical trial. … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Donor human milk, not toxic after all!

Posted on 31 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

It was fairly recently that I deconstructed a truly terrible database analysis which claimed that neonatal mortality was dramatically increased among very preterm infants who received mother’s own milk (MoM) and donor human milk (DHM), without any formula or fortifier, … Continue reading →

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Is there any indication to close the PDA?

Posted on 26 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

Yet another trial of PDA treatment and attempted closure with a null result. Baby-OSCAR was a UK multi-center masked RCT of ibuprofen treatment of 23 to <29 week infants who were screened with echocardiogram within the first 72 hours of … Continue reading →

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Time to open the DOOR

Posted on 17 January 2024 by Keith Barrington

I have written many times about the problems with classical composite outcomes in neonatal research. “Death or BPD”, “death or NDI”, or sometimes “death or NEC or Sepsis or BPD or severe IVH” have been used as a way of … Continue reading →

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Umbilical cord management at birth for preterm infants

Posted on 24 November 2023 by Keith Barrington

The Lancet just published back-to-back articles from the iCOMP collaborative reporting the results of the Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis of trials of differing cord management techniques in preterm infants. There were 48 trials with a total of 7000 patients in … Continue reading →

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Which Probiotic is Preferable?

Posted on 21 November 2023 by Keith Barrington

The word “probiotic” is defined rather vaguely as a micro-organism which has beneficial health impacts. I think it is obvious that there is a huge difference between fungi that are found in the intestinal microbiome of adults, and the lactic … Continue reading →

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Do probiotics only work in bigger babies? What is the risk-benefit of routine probiotics in the extremely preterm?

Posted on 13 November 2023 by Keith Barrington

The recent statement from the AAP and a recent review article both state that probiotics only appear to be effective in babies over 1000g birthweight. This would be remarkable if it were true. I am trying to think of another … Continue reading →

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Manipulating the Microbiome

Posted on 2 November 2023 by Keith Barrington

Not with human milk based fortifier, but with probiotics. This post is a sort of intersection between some of my recent posts, human-milk based fortifier does not appear to have a positive effect on the intestinal microbiome. But exogenous probiotics … Continue reading →

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How to express negative results… or positive ones

Posted on 25 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

After any trial result, there is always a possibility that the true effect of an intervention is different to that shown in the sample who were studied. That is the whole rationale behind using statistics, a trial on a small … Continue reading →

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On which Planet? Reducing platelet transfusions in the newborn.

Posted on 24 October 2023 by Keith Barrington

Recent publications about platelet transfusions in the newborn. Hopefully, everyone has integrated the findings of Planet-2 into their protocols and guidelines. Curley A, et al. Randomized Trial of Platelet-Transfusion Thresholds in Neonates. N Engl J Med. 2019;380(3):242-51. This trial, in … Continue reading →

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