Respiratory support for preterm infants – the Cochrane evidence and beyond

Respiratory failure is the commonest morbidity of newborn infants, often necessitating support. While respiratory support of newborn infants is life-saving, it is strongly associated with long-term sequelae. Modes of support for newborn infants, especially preterm infants, have been evolving over the last four decades. Key developments have ensured improvement in survival and outcomes of these vulnerable infants. A large body of evidence has been collected on the appropriate respiratory management of preterm newborn infants. The Cochrane Neonatal Group has been at the forefront of collecting all published evidence and pooling them together into high-quality meta-analyses. In this review, we present a summary of the key Cochrane reviews to guide our practice, with a few future perspectives.