title: [Ambroxol for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome in preterm infants: a meta analysis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ambroxol in the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in preterm infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic searches were performed in the Cochrane Library, PubMED, EMBASE, Chinese CBM, Chinese VIP Database, Chinese Wanfang Database and Chinese CNKI Database up to the year of 2009 for randomized controlled trials (RCT) on ambroxol for the prevention of RDS in preterm infants. The meeting articles related to the RCT were manually searched in Pediatrics and Pediatric Research. Meta analysis was performed for the results of homogeneous studies by the Cochrane Collaboration's software RevMan 5.0.17.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six RCTs involving 823 preterm infants were included, and the quality assessment for the trials demonstrated 1 article as A class, 1 article as B class and 4 articles as C class. The Meta analysis showed that ambroxol administration significantly reduced the incidence of RDS (OR=0.24, 95%CI: 0.15 - 0.64, P<0.01), bronchopulmonary dysplasis (BPD, OR=0.41, 95%CI: 0.23 - 0.75, P<0.01), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH, OR=0.39, 95%CI:0.24 - 0.64, P<0.01), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA, OR=0.33, 95%CI: 0.17 - 0.67, P<0.01) and pulmonary infection (OR=0.24, 95%CI:0.14 - 0.38, P<0.01). No adverse events related to the ambroxol treatment were reported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current evidence shows that early use of ambroxol can reduce the risk of RDS, BPD, IVH, PDA and pulmonary infection in preterm infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Hangzhou 320006, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Qun
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xian-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000551:Ambroxol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001997:Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / Q000517:prevention & control; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000517:prevention & control; D004374:Ductus Arteriosus, Patent / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D000551:Ambroxol