Effective Care of the Newborn Infant

Abstract

This companion volume to the highly acclaimed Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (OUP 1989, edited by Iain Chalmers et al.) evaluates the care of newborn infants. Medical research has produced an explosion of new knowledge concerning the causes, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention of diseases of the newborn infant. As the pace of therapeutic innovation quickens, there is an increasing need for efficient access to information concerning the probable effects of therapy. This book meets the urgent demand for a systematic summary of the best available evidence concerning the expected outcomes of therapeutic decisions in neonatology. This revolutionary work consists fundamentally of quantitative reviews of randomized trials of alternative courses of action. It contains some 2000 new analyses of data from the clinical trials literature, representing the vast majority of randomized trials in neonatology. The result is the first systematic review of evidence from randomized clinical trials in this field and an explicit dissection of the research data supporting, or in some cases not supporting, clinical management of the newborn. This book will interest pediatricians, especially neonatologists; obstetricians, especially maternal-fetal medicine specialists; family practitioners; and epidemiologists.