Multiple courses of steroids given to women in preterm labor do not result in brain damage of the baby in the womb as believed and that the treatment enhances the survival rate of the babies.
The researchers led by Dr. Sanjiv Amin found that neurological complications on preterm babies were from multiple courses of dexamethasone, a steroid prepared with sulfur. However, most clinicians nowadays have switched to sulfur-free steroids, such as betamethasone. To clarify confusions, a study based on preterm infants who received betamethasone was made.
From Bio-Medicine:
Before concerns arose in 2000 about safety of multiple courses of steroids, many mothers in on-and-off preterm labor received several rounds before delivering. Now, when mothers go into preterm labor, obstetricians will often administer only a single course of steroids to help strengthen the baby’s lungs upon birth. But if the birth is successfully held off for more than seven days, the mother does not receive another course of medication and the baby’s lungs may not be protected.
“We considered ABR a window into the whole brain,” Amin said. “And it doesn’t look like the brain is affected in infants who received multiple courses of betamethasone steroids.”
At the end of the study, researchers claim that there were no significant differences in the brain’s responses to the testing between the 50 babies who received one course of steroids and the 29 who received two or more courses, even when controlled for gestational age, birth weight, race and exposure to illegal drugs. There were also no significant differences between the 51 infants who received no steroids and those who did. The only medical difference between those infants who received one course and those who received more was that the ones who received more were less likely to need mechanical ventilation the day they were born.
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