Oral dextrose gel to improve survival in less vigorous newborn triplet lambs: a randomised controlled trial

Figures & data

Figure 1. ARRIVE diagram: effect of buccal glucose on triplet survival trial.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics of triplet lambs.

	Met criteria for trial intervention			Did not meet criteria for trial intervention
	Dextrose	Placebo	Total	Observed	Dextrose vs placebo	Met criteria vs did not meet criteria
Number of lambs	22	19	41	30
Required birth assistance	10 (45)	16 (84)	26 (63)	10 (33)	P = 0.02	P = 0.02
Birth assistance score					P = 0.02	P = 0.004
0	12 (55)	3 (16)	15 (37)	20 (67)
1	1 (5)	2 (11)	3 (7)	1 (3)
2	6 (27)	4 (21)	10 (24)	9 (30)
3	3 (14)	10 (53)	13 (32)	0
Birth order					P = 0.96	P < 0.0001
1	4 (18)	3 (16)	7 (17)	14 (47)
2	5 (23)	4 (21)	9 (21)	16 (53)
3	13 (59)	12 (63)	25 (61)	0
Male	12 (55)	13 (68)	23 (56)	13 (43)	P = 0.21	P = 0.34
Birth weight (g)	3785 (3089, 5320)	4280 (2650, 5840)	3950 (2650, 5840)	4215 (3560, 6470)	P = 0.01	P = 0.10
Required resuscitation	12 (55)	10 (52)	22 (54)	4 (13)	P = 1.00	P = 0.0005
Vigour score at 5 minutes after birth					P = 0.58	P = 0.004
0	0	1 (5)	1 (2)	2 (7)
1	0	1 (5)	1 (2)	2 (7)
2	14 (65)	9 (47)	23 (56)	26 (87)
3	7 (32)	7 (37)	14 (34)	0
4	1 (5)	1 (5)	2 (5)	0
Time of first stand (minutes after birth)	20 (11, 46)	19 (5, 33)	20 (5, 33)	15 (4, 47)	P = 0.40	P = 0.19
Time of first feed (minutes after birth)	86 (25, 145)	55 (25, 198)	76 (25, 198)	50 (6, 189)	P = 0.73	P = 0.02
Suck attempts—first hour after birth (pre-gel)	7 (0, 15)	2 (0, 8)	4 (0, 15)	5 (0, 24)	P = 0.05	P = 0.42
Successful feeds—first hour after birth (pre-gel)	0 (0, 5)	0 (0, 5)	0 (0, 5)	1 (0, 14)	P = 0.83	P = 0.01
Rectal temp at 1 hour after birth	39.5 (33.6, 40.2)	39.8 (38.7, 40.9)	39.6 (33.6, 40.9)	39.6 (38.1, 41.1)	P = 0.02	P = 0.99

Data are presented as number (%), median (minimum, maximum) or P. Bold values denotes statistically significant outcomes.

Figure 2. Interstitial glucose concentrations in twin lambs given dextrose or placebo gel. Mean (95% CI) interstitial glucose concentrations for each 30 minute period from time of gel administration to completion of continuous glucose monitoring (total duration 4.5 hours) for lambs given dextrose (n = 6) and placebo (n = 4) gel. Overall mean interstitial glucose concentrations were similar in both groups (P = 0.78). Concentrations decreased slightly over the study period in both groups, (P < 0.0001), and this decrease was also similar in both groups (P time*treatment = 0.066).