By Reuters Staff
April 10, 2017
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Early prophylactic administration of recombinant human erythropoietin
(rhEPO) improves neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm babies, a
meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials confirms. However, more work
is needed to figure out optimal dosing and timing of administration, the
authors say in a report online April 7 in Pediatrics. Improving
neurodevelopmental outcomes is a “major goal” in neonatology, especially with
regard to the increasing survival rate of very premature infants, and rhEPO is
one of the most promising agents to accomplish this, they point out.
Dr. Christof Dame
and colleagues from the neonatology department at Charite University Medical
Center in Berlin did a pooled analysis of four randomized controlled trials
that investigated the use of rhEPO in preterm infants (<= 32 weeks'
gestational age) and reported neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18 to 24 months'
corrected age. The studies were mostly of high methodological quality with a
low risk of bias, they say.
Their analysis
showed a significant reduction in the incidence of a Mental Developmental Index
(MDI) score lower than 70 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development with prophylactic rhEPO administration. “The beneficial
effect of prophylactic rhEPO on the incidence of MDI lower than 70 at 18 to 24 months'
corrected age was consistent across all studies. With an
absolute risk reduction from 15.7% to 8.4% and a number needed to treat of 14
patients, the estimated effect is clinically relevant. The observed benefits of
rhEPO are robust, because they are in agreement with available evidence from
longer-term follow-up studies, which also reported improved cognitive
outcomes,” the authors say.
Full article may be accessed at link below.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2oIBNTR
Pediatrics 2017.
Reuters Health
Information © 2017
Cite
this article: Early EPO Offers Neuroprotection for Preemies:
Meta-analysis - Medscape - Apr 07, 2017.
