Airway administration of corticosteroids for prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infants: a meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis

Table 3 Sensitivity analysis of primary outcomes with the use of AACs or placebo

Outcome or Subgroup	Studies	Participants	P value	Effect Estimate	NNT
BPD	14	2338	0.0005	0.71 [0.58, 0.86]	10
Exclusion of high risk trials	12	2172	0.0001	0.70 [0.58, 0.84]	10
Exclusion of conference abstracts	13	2298	<0.0001	0.69 [0.58, 0.83]	9
Exclusion of non English studies	11	2006	<0.00001	0.72 [0.63, 0.83]	10
Exclusion of small sample trials	6	1861	<0.0001	0.69 [0.57, 0.83]	10
Inhaled corticosteroids	10	1785	0.003	0.77 [0.65, 0.91]	14
Instillation of steroids using surfactants as carriers	4	553	0.007	0.44 [0.24, 0.79]	5
Death	11	2041	0.55	0.75 [0.54, 1.04]
Exclusion of high risk trials	9	1875	0.40	0.88 [0.56, 1.39]
Exclusion of conference abstracts	10	2003	0.99	1.00 [0.75, 1.33]
Exclusion of non English studies	10	1961	0.55	0.90 [0.64, 1.27]
Exclusion of small sample trials	5	1701	0.98	1.01 [0.70, 1.45]
Inhaled corticosteroids	8	1580	0.88	1.03 [0.69, 1.53]
Instillation of steroids using surfactants as carriers	3	461	0.07	0.67 [0.43, 1.04]
Death or BPD	8	1761	0.003	0.81 [0.71, 0.93]	12
Exclusion of conference abstracts	7	1721	0.01	0.82 [0.70, 0.96]	12
Exclusion of small sample trials	4	1585	0.03	0.83 [0.70, 0.99]	13
Inhaled corticosteroids	7	1496	0.03	0.87 [0.77, 0.99]	20
Instillation of steroids using surfactants as carriers	1	265	<0.0001	0.69 [0.58, 0.82]	4

AACs Airway administration of corticosteroids, BPD Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, NNT Numbers needed to treat

ISSN: 1471-2466