Vitamin K given to women before a very preterm birth does not decrease the risk of bleeding in the brain and associated neurological injury in babies born very preterm.
Babies born very early (before 34 weeks) are at risk of bleeding in the brain (periventricular haemorrhage). This can be a cause of brain damage that might lead to neurological disabilities including cerebral palsy. Preterm infants have reduced levels of clotting factors, some of which require vitamin K for activation. Vitamin K may therefore help the blood to clot in preterm babies and so decrease this risk of haemorrhage. The review of trials did not find vitamin K, given as an injection to women immediately prior to a very preterm birth, decreased the risk of periventricular haemorrhage in their babies. There were too few data on children at follow up to assess the effects of vitamin K given immediately before very preterm birth on child development. Eight trials were included but only seven contributed data to the results. These seven trials involved 843 women. The trials were of variable quality and only two trials used a placebo.
In four trials that did not use placebo, more women were treated with vitamin K also received corticosteroids before giving birth compared to those not receiving vitamin K. Prenatal corticosteroids are known to reduce the rate of haemorrhage. Women receiving vitamin K were also more likely to be treated with phenobarbital in one trial.
Women given vitamin K reported a rash in two trials.