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Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Heparin for the prevention of intraventricular haemorrhage in preterm infants

Overview of attention for article published in Cochrane database of systematic reviews, May 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (74th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

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5 X users
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2 Facebook pages
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188 Mendeley
Title
Heparin for the prevention of intraventricular haemorrhage in preterm infants
Published in
Cochrane database of systematic reviews, May 2016
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd011718.pub2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Matteo Bruschettini, Olga Romantsik, Simona Zappettini, Rita Banzi, Luca Antonio Ramenghi, Maria Grazia Calevo

Abstract

Preterm birth remains the major risk factor for the development of intraventricular haemorrhage, an injury that occurs in 25% of very low birth weight infants. Intraventricular haemorrhage is thought to be venous in origin and intrinsic thromboses in the germinal matrix are likely to play a triggering role. Heparin activates antithrombin and promotes the inactivation of thrombin and other target proteinases. The administration of anticoagulants such as heparin may offset the increased risk of developing intraventricular haemorrhage and may also reduce the risk of developing parenchymal venous infarct, a condition known to complicate intraventricular haemorrhage. To assess whether the prophylactic administration of heparin reduces the incidence of germinal matrix-intraventricular haemorrhage in very preterm neonates when compared to placebo, no treatment, or other anticoagulants. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library 2015), MEDLINE (1996 to 22 November 2015), EMBASE (1980 to 22 November 2015) and CINAHL (1982 to 22 November 2015), applying no language restrictions. We searched the abstracts of the major congresses in the field (Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand and Pediatric Academic Societies) from 2000 to 2015. Randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised controlled trials and cluster trials comparing the administration of early, i.e. within the first 24 hours of life, heparin in very preterm infants (gestational age < 32 weeks). For each of the included trials, two authors independently extracted data (e.g. number of participants, birth weight, gestational age, dose of heparin, mode of administration, and duration of therapy, etc.) and assessed the risk of bias (e.g. adequacy of randomisation, blinding, completeness of follow up). The primary outcomes considered in this review are intraventricular haemorrhage, severe intraventricular haemorrhage and neonatal mortality. Two randomised controlled trials enrolling a total of 155 infants met the inclusion criteria of this review. Both trials compared low-dose heparin to the same solution without heparin in very preterm newborns requiring umbilical catheterisation. No trials were identified that specifically studied the use of heparin in infants at risk of germinal matrix-intraventricular haemorrhage.We found no differences in the rates of intraventricular haemorrhage (typical RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.41; typical RD -0.03, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.12; 2 studies, 155 infants; I² = 57% for RR and I² = 65% for RD), severe intraventricular haemorrhage (typical RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.46 to 2.23; typical RD 0.00, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.11; 2 studies, 155 infants; I² = 0% for RR and I² = 0% for RD) and neonatal mortality (typical RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.28 to 1.67; typical RD -0.04, 95% CI -0.14 to 0.06; 2 studies, 155 infants; I² = 28% for RR and I² = 50% for RD). We judged the quality of the evidence supporting these findings as very low (rates of intraventricular haemorrhage) and low (severe intraventricular haemorrhage and neonatal mortality) mainly because of limitations in the study designs and the imprecision of estimates. We found very few data on other relevant outcomes, such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, pulmonary haemorrhage and patent ductus arteriosus; and no study assessing long-term outcomes (e.g. neurodevelopmental disability). There is very limited data on the effect of prophylactic administration of heparin on the incidence and severity of IVH in very preterm neonates. Both the identified trials used heparin in the context of maintaining umbilical line patency and not specifically as an agent to prevent germinal matrix-intraventricular haemorrhage. Given the imprecision of our estimates, the results of this systematic review are consistent with either a benefit or a detrimental effect of heparin and do not provide a definitive answer to the review question. Limited evidence is available on other clinically relevant outcomes.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 188 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
South Africa 1 <1%
Unknown 187 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 28 15%
Researcher 18 10%
Student > Bachelor 17 9%
Student > Postgraduate 13 7%
Other 13 7%
Other 45 24%
Unknown 54 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 74 39%
Nursing and Health Professions 23 12%
Social Sciences 7 4%
Psychology 5 3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 1%
Other 12 6%
Unknown 65 35%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 March 2021.
All research outputs
#5,468,387
of 22,875,477 outputs
Outputs from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#7,288
of 12,329 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#77,238
of 298,943 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#173
of 290 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,875,477 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 76th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 12,329 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 30.5. This one is in the 40th percentile – i.e., 40% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 298,943 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 290 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.