TY - JOUR T1 - Comparative efficacy of methods for surfactant administration: a network meta-analysis JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition JO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed SP - 474 LP - 487 DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2020-319763 VL - 106 IS - 5 AU - Ioannis Bellos AU - Georgia Fitrou AU - Raffaella Panza AU - Aakash Pandita Y1 - 2021/09/01 UR - http://fn.bmj.com/content/106/5/474.abstract N2 - Objectives To compare surfactant administration via thin catheters, laryngeal mask, nebulisation, pharyngeal instillation, intubation and surfactant administration followed by immediate extubation (InSurE) and no surfactant administration.Design Network meta-analysis.Setting Medline, Scopus, CENTRAL, Web of Science, Google-scholar and Clinicaltrials.gov databases were systematically searched from inception to 15 February 2020.Patients Preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome.Interventions Less invasive surfactant administration.Main outcome measures The primary outcomes were mortality, mechanical ventilation and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.Results Overall, 16 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 20 observational studies were included (N=13 234). For the InSurE group, the median risk of mortality, mechanical ventilation and bronchopulmonary dysplasia were 7.8%, 42.1% and 10%, respectively. Compared with InSurE, administration via thin catheter was associated with significantly lower rates of mortality (OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.54 to 0.76), mechanical ventilation (OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.29 to 0.63), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.44 to 0.73), periventricular leukomalacia (OR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.53 to 0.82) with moderate quality of evidence and necrotising enterocolitis (OR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.41 to 0.9, low quality of evidence). No significant differences were observed by comparing InSurE with administration via laryngeal mask, nebulisation or pharyngeal instillation. In RCTs, thin catheter administration lowered the rates of mechanical ventilation (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.26 to 0.60) but not the incidence of the remaining outcomes.Conclusion Among preterm infants, surfactant administration via thin catheters was associated with lower likelihood of mortality, need for mechanical ventilation and bronchopulmonary dysplasia compared with InSurE. Further research is needed to reach firm conclusions about the efficacy of alternative minimally invasive techniques of surfactant administration.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. All the required data is available with the manuscript. ER -