Table 1

Design, inclusion criteria, and number of neonates included from the relevant trials (see box 3 for criteria used for evaluation on systematic errors)

Trial	Kind of control group	Year published	Gestational age (weeks)	Birth weight (g)	Drug	Daily dose (EID/TD) (mg/kg/24 h)	Dosage interval (EID/TD) (h)	Therapeutic peak SDC range (mg/l)	Therapeutic trough SDC range (mg/l)	Systematic error (bias in internal validity)	Number of neonates included
*Not an inclusion criterion in the trial.
Gooding et al¹⁶	Historical	2001	⩽28	*	Gentamicin	2.67/2.5	36/24	5–8	0–1.5	Yes	57
Mercado ¹⁹	Randomised	2004	*	750–1500	Gentamicin	2.5/2.5	48/24	5–12	0–2	No	20
Solomon et al²⁵	Randomised	1999	⩾32	*	Gentamicin	4/5	24/12	4–10	0–2	Yes	73
Krishnan et al²⁹	Randomised	1997	32–36	*	Gentamicin	4/5	24/12	>5	0–2	No	18
Kosalaraksa et al²⁰	Randomised	2004	*	⩽2000	Gentamicin	5/5	24/12	4–12	0–2	Yes	64
Hayani et al²²	Randomised	1997	⩾34	⩾2000	Gentamicin	5/5	24/12	5–18	0–1.5	Yes	24
Chotigeat et al²⁴	Randomised	2001	⩾34	⩾2000	Gentamicin	4–5/4–5	24/12	5–18 (EID) 4–12 (TD)	0–1.5 (EID) 0–2 (TD)	Yes	54
Thureen et al²⁶	Cohort	1999	⩾34	*	Gentamicin	5/5	24/12	5–10	0–2	Yes	55
Langhendries et al¹⁸	Randomised	1993	⩾34	*	Amikacin	15/15	24/12	Not stated	Not stated	Yes	22
Andrews et al³¹	Historical	2000	⩾36	*	Gentamicin	5/5	24/12	>6	0–2	Yes	49
Kotze et al³⁰	Randomised	1999	37–42	*	Amikacin	15/15	24/12	>20	0–10	No	40
Skopnik et al²³	Randomised	1992	⩾37	⩾2500	Gentamicin	4/4	24/12	4–12	0–2	No	20
Lundergan et al¹⁷	Historical	1999	⩾37	⩾2500	Gentamicin	4/5	24/12	5–12	0–2	Yes	121
de Alba et al²⁸	Randomised	1998	*	⩾1200	Gentamicin	5/5	24/12	6–12	0–2	No	65
Alsaedi²¹	Historical	2003	37–42	⩾2500	Gentamicin	4/5	24/12	5–12	0–2	Yes	100
Agarwal et al²⁷	Randomised	2002	*	⩾2500	Gentamicin	4/5	24/12	5–12	0–2	No	41