RT Journal
A1 HALL SL
T1 REconsideration of igm-enriched intravenous immunoglobulin for neonatal sepsis
JF American Journal of Diseases of Children
JO American Journal of Diseases of Children
YR 1989
FD July 1
VO 143
IS 7
SP 766
OP 766
DO 10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150190016008
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150190016008
AB To the Editor.—In the article by Haque et al1 in the December 1988 issue of AJDC, the authors concluded that mortality from neonatal sepsis (suspected or proved) was significantly reduced in a group of 30 infants treated in a prospective, randomized trial with IgM-enriched intravenous immunoglobulin (Pentaglobin, Biotest Pharma, Frankfurt, West Germany) in addition to antibiotics compared with a control group of 30 infants who were treated with antibiotics alone.Their conclusion of a statistically significant (P<.001) reduction in mortality between the treated and control groups was based on the use of Student's t test for statistical analysis. Is there some rationale that makes use of the Student t test the appropriate test for analysis of these outcome data?As outcome is a discrete and not a continuous or numerical parameter, a t test, which is a parametric test of the difference in means between two samples