Failure of supplementation with vitamin E to prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia in infants less than 1,500 g birth weight.

In a randomized trial to determine whether oral vitamin E reduced stages III and IV bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) by 50%, 268 infants were randomly allocated, after stratification by birth weight and severity of disease, to receive vitamin E 25 units or an indistinguishable placebo. The experimental (E) group and the control (C) group were similar in weight, gestational ages, Apgar scores, severity of illness, and initial oxygen and …