Response to Correspondence on 'Amplitude-Integrated EEG Is Useful in Predicting Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Full-Term Infants with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Meta-Analysis'

摘要

We thank Thayyil et al for their concerns and comments on our publication "Amplitude-Integrated EEG Is Useful in Predicting Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Full-Term Infants With Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Meta-Analysis."2 The authors contend our study contains putative errors in the meta-analysis relating to clinical subject heterogeneity in the studies pooled for comparison. In addition, they express concern regarding the level of statistical detail provided. We appreciate and encourage the scrutiny given to this study. Our intention in performing this meta-analysis was to provide clinicians with a first approximation to an important clinical question, that is, whether early noninvasive amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) measurement is predictive of long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. This meta-analysis, therefore, is somewhat unusual insofar as its focus is not on a treatment modality, but rather on a specific diagnostic test, which is, at present, inconsistently applied in newborn intensive care units around the world.