Azithromycin for preventing bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants:a systematic review / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of Azithromycin for preventing bronchopulmonary dysplasia(BPD) in preterm infants in order to provide reference for the clinical treatment of BPD.Methods The electronic retrieval were conducted to review randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from The Cochrane Library,PubMed,EM-Base,China Biological Medicine Database (CBM),Chinese Journals full-text Database (CNKI),Chinese Technological Journals Database(VIP) and Wan Fang Digital Journal Full-text Database by free texts and medical subject headings.The retrieval time was from inception to Dec.2012.Randomized or quasi-randomized studies were conducted by comparing Azithromycin therapy and no treatment or placebo management to prevent BPD among the preterm or low birth weight infants were included.The reference lists of relevant trials and conference proceedings were searched.Risk biases of the trials were assessed.Statistical analysis was performed by using Revman 5.1 offered by Cochrane.Results A total of 2 trials including 328 preterm infants were included.No significant difference was observed between the Azithromycin group and the control group in the incidence of BPD(RR =0.81,95％ CI 0.55-1.19).The risk ratio of death and post-natal steroid used in the Azithromycin group were lower,but there was no difference.The risk ratio of length of stay was not significantly different.The rate of BPD in preterm infants who had a positive respiratory culture of Ureaplasma between the preventative Azithromycin group and the placebo group showed that the incidence of BPD was significantly less in the Azithromycin group.Conclusions The available data are insufficient to make a recommendation regarding treatment with prophylactic Azithromycin to prevent BPD in preterm infants.More RCTs with large-scale and high-quality are required to provide more reliable evidence.