Role of vitamin A supplementation in prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in extremely low birth weight neonates: a systematic review of randomized trials.

BACKGROUND

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is one of the most common consequence of extreme prematurity (<28 weeks of gestation). BPD affects approximately 55% of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) neonates.

AIMS: The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the role of vitamin A supplementation in prevention of BPD in ELBW neonates.

METHOD: The literature search was done for various randomized control trial (RCT) by searching the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, EMBASE, and ongoing clinical trials.

RESULTS

This review included two RCTs that fulfilled inclusion criteria. There were statistically significant reduction in the incidence of BPD (oxygen requirement at 36 weeks of postmenstrual age (PMA)) (relative risk (RR) 0.88; 95%CI 0.77-0.99; p = .04; NNTB 14) and borderline significant reduction in combined outcomes of mortality/BPD (oxygen requirement at 36 weeks of PMA) (RR 0.90; 95%CI 0.82-1.00; p = .05). However, oxygen requirement at 28 days of life and combined outcome of mortality/BPD (oxygen requirement at 28 days of life) were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The role of vitamin A supplementation in the prevention of BPD is supported by the current evidences. However, due to limited number of studies, current evidences are not sufficient which can translate into routine clinical practice. We need large high-quality trials, with sufficient power to reliably assess clinically relevant differences in outcomes.