The Headline:
“A treatment thought to improve a premature baby's chance of fighting infection does not actually provide any benefit,” BBC online reports. The news service says that a protein given to premature babies to boost their immune system does not improve their chances of survival, as was previously thought.
NHS Choices says that:
This is a reliable study with an important conclusion for those practising in the area.
The two small studies prior to this one had shown small (but non-significant) benefits individually, and when combined they indicated a possible overall improvement in survival. This was the reason for conducting this slightly larger trial.
Meta-analysis is an important statistical technique for combining the results of small trials, and it proved useful in this trial. Meta-analysis was used both to justify the current trial in the first place, and to show the overall effect of GM-CSF by pooling these new results with those from previous studies.
The authors say that “successful future stratagems will need a wider view of [the premature baby’s] antibacterial defences”. This means that although this result may be prove disappointing, there is always further research to be done.
Links to the Headlines:
Infection setback in prem babies. BBC News, January 16 2009
Links to the Science:
Carr R, Brocklehurst P Doré CJ Modi N. Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor administered as prophylaxis for reduction of sepsis in extremely preterm, small for gestational age neonates (the PROGRAMS trial): a single-blind, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2009; 373: 226 - 233
