We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to investigate the prophylactic role of oral nystatin in the prevention of fungal colonization in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants compared with placebo or no treatment intervention. From inception until June 2022, we screened four major databases for pertinent RCTs and examined their risk of bias. The main outcomes were the rate of fungal colonization, rate of invasive fungal infection, rate of mortality, mean length of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and mean duration of antibiotic treatment. We summarized data as risk ratio (RR) or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI), using the fixed-effects model. Five RCTs met our inclusion criteria. One RCT was evaluated as having "high risk," one RCT was evaluated as having "some concerns," and three RCTs were evaluated as having "low risk" of bias. Compared with the control group, oral nystatin prophylaxis was correlated with substantial decrease in the frequency of fungal colonization (n=4 RCTs, RR=0.34, 95% CI {0.24, 0.48}, p<0.0001), the rate of invasive fungal infection (n=4 RCTs, RR=0.15, 95% CI {0.12, 0.19}, p<0.0001), and the mean duration of antibiotic treatment (n=3 RCTs, MD=-2.79 days, 95% CI {-5.01, -0.56}, p=0.01). However, there was no significant difference between both groups regarding the rate of mortality (n=4 RCTs, RR=0.87, 95% CI {0.64, 1.18}, p=0.37) and mean length of stay in NICU (n=3 RCTs, MD=-2.85 days, 95% CI {-6.52, 0.82}, p=0.13). In conclusion, among VLBW infants, the prophylactic use of oral nystatin was correlated with favorable antifungal benefits compared with placebo or no treatment intervention.
Keywords: fungal colonization; fungal infection; low birth weight; meta-analysis; nystatin.
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