Sustained low-dose prophylactic early erythropoietin for improvement of neurological outcomes in preterm infants: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effects of different doses of prophylactic rhEPO on neurodevelopmental outcomes and provide reference for rational drug use. The primary outcome was the number of infants with a Mental Developmental Index (MDI) <70 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Five RCTs, comprising 2282 infants, were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, prophylactic rhEPO administration reduced the incidence of infants with an MDI <70, with an odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 0.55 (0.38-0.79), P <0.05. The low-dose rhEPO subgroup was superior to the placebo subgroup, with an OR (95% CI) of 0.47 (0.25-0.87), P <0.05. However, high-dose rhEPO subgroup had no significant impact on MDI <70 in infants <28 weeks' gestational age. The definitions of the secondary outcome showed that there was no significant effect of rhEPO on cerebral palsy. For neonatal complications, although four studies showed that there were no differences in the pooled results of BPD and ICH events between rhEPO treatment and placebo, the ICH events were significantly lower in the low-dose rhEPO (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.23-0.59). In addition, in the pooled results of NEC and ROP events, there were significant differences between the two groups (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.43-0.93) (OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.65-0.98). And the NEC events were significantly lower in the low-dose rhEPO (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.27-0.73). Sustained low-dose prophylactic early erythropoietin might be more superior than high-dose for improvement of neurological outcomes and several neonatal complications in preterm infants.