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Randomized study of the effect of antenatal dexamethasone on growth and development of premature children at the corrected age of 2 years
Author(s) -
Salokorpi T,
Sajaniemi N,
Hällback H,
Kari A,
Rita H,
Wendt L
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1997.tb08893.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dexamethasone , cerebral palsy , pediatrics , placebo , gestational age , incidence (geometry) , birth weight , low birth weight , neuropsychology , gestation , pregnancy , physical therapy , physics , alternative medicine , cognition , pathology , psychiatry , biology , optics , genetics
The objective of the series was to study the effect of prenatal dexamethasone therapy on the growth and neurological development of preterm children until the age of 2 years. Eighty‐two children with a mean gestational age of 30 (24–33) weeks and a mean weight of 1291 (530–2360) g at birth, treated antenatally with either dexamethasone ( n = 50) or placebo ( n = 32), were examined at the adjusted age of 24 months by a paediatric neurologist, a neuropsychologist and a speech therapist. Neurological development was defined as normal if all scores of neuropaediatric, neuropsychological and verbal tests were within the normal range. Normal neurological development was found in 52% of the dexamethasone‐treated and in 34% of the placebo‐treated children. The incidence of cerebral palsy was 10% in the dexamethasone group and 22% in the placebo group. Minor developmental delay was found in 42% of dexamethasone‐treated and in 53% of placebo‐treated children. Our follow‐up results indicate that the beneficial effect of prenatal glucocorticoid treatment on cerebral complications I intraventricular haemorrhage or periventricular leucomalacia) demonstrated during the neonatal period may be followed by a lower incidence of cerebral palsy in surviving premature children.