Steroid use safe in pregnancy â€" study
TWO new studies are offering mixed signals about the long-term safety of repeatedly giving pregnant women steroid drugs to prevent complications once a premature delivery seems likely. <br>
TWO new studies are offering mixed signals about the long-term safety of repeatedly giving pregnant women steroid drugs to prevent complications once a premature delivery seems likely.
While one report in the New England Journal of Medicine found little evidence that the widespread practice is dangerous, another one in the medical magazine offers hints that repeated injections may raise the risk of cerebral palsy in babies born to the women receiving steroids.
Doctors give such drugs to help the fetus’ lungs mature quickly if they suspect a premature delivery. But the baby does not always come as soon as expected, raising the question of whether the treatment should continue.
Doctors often continue to administer steroid injections, sometimes weekly.
There has been little evidence, until now, to show if the strategy is safe. Animal tests have suggested that brain development and body size might be affected.
The studies found that the mothers who received extra injections of the steroid betamethasone delivered babies that were not any different from normal in their body size measurements and had no significant differences in blood pressure or development at age two or three.
The first study, led by Caroline Crowther of the University of Adelaide in Australia, found that 84% of the 521 fetuses exposed to more than one steroid treatment were free of a major disability at the age of two. This compared to 81% of the 526 children from mothers who had been given placebo shots after the first steroid injection.
The second study, which looked at children age two to three, found that infant development scores were the same for 235 children who has been exposed to betamethasone and 230 whose mothers had been given placebo shots.
However the team, led by Ronald Wapner of Columbia University in New York, found that 2.9% of the steroid-treated pregnancies produced a baby with cerebral palsy, compared to 0.5% among children of placebo recipients.
Reuters
While one report in the New England Journal of Medicine found little evidence that the widespread practice is dangerous, another one in the medical magazine offers hints that repeated injections may raise the risk of cerebral palsy in babies born to the women receiving steroids.
Doctors give such drugs to help the fetus’ lungs mature quickly if they suspect a premature delivery. But the baby does not always come as soon as expected, raising the question of whether the treatment should continue.
Doctors often continue to administer steroid injections, sometimes weekly.
There has been little evidence, until now, to show if the strategy is safe. Animal tests have suggested that brain development and body size might be affected.
The studies found that the mothers who received extra injections of the steroid betamethasone delivered babies that were not any different from normal in their body size measurements and had no significant differences in blood pressure or development at age two or three.
The first study, led by Caroline Crowther of the University of Adelaide in Australia, found that 84% of the 521 fetuses exposed to more than one steroid treatment were free of a major disability at the age of two. This compared to 81% of the 526 children from mothers who had been given placebo shots after the first steroid injection.
The second study, which looked at children age two to three, found that infant development scores were the same for 235 children who has been exposed to betamethasone and 230 whose mothers had been given placebo shots.
However the team, led by Ronald Wapner of Columbia University in New York, found that 2.9% of the steroid-treated pregnancies produced a baby with cerebral palsy, compared to 0.5% among children of placebo recipients.
Reuters