Prenatal Steroids Reduce Brain Injury in Preemies

preemies lSome of the tiniest premature babies are more likely to survive and have less brain injury if their mothers receive prenatal steroids. The finding provides the first strong evidence that steroids can benefit preemies born as early as the 23rd week of pregnancy.

Preterm babies are born before the 37th week of gestation, rather than the 40 weeks of a full-term pregnancy. Preterm birth occurs in over 10% of all pregnancies nationwide. It's a leading cause of infant death. Preemies also have increased risk for lung difficulties, developmental disorders and brain damage. Infants born before the 25th week of gestation are at particularly high risk for some degree of lifelong disability.

Medical guidelines currently recommend prenatal steroids for women at risk of giving birth between weeks 24 to 34 of pregnancy. The treatment improves fetal lung maturity, boosts infant survival and reduces the risk of brain injury. But the data on steroid therapy for births before the 25th week of gestation has been too limited to provide clear guidance for treatment.

To learn if steroid therapy might benefit these earliest preemies, researchers in the nationwide Neonatal Research Network analyzed medical records from more than 10,500 infants. All were delivered at 22-25 weeks' gestational age. The researchers also performed neurological exams on a subset of nearly 5,000 infants who survived 18 to 22 months after their original due dates. NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) supported the study.

Journal of the American Medical Association. The scientists found that infants born to mothers who received prenatal steroids had 33% fewer deaths than those whose mothers didn’t. Among surviving infants, rates of blindness, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy or severe delays in motor and cognitive development were more than 20% lower when mothers had received prenatal steroids.


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

The researchers also looked at infant outcomes separately for each gestational week. For those born at weeks 23, 24 and 25, exposure to prenatal steroids was linked to significant reductions in death or neurological impairment by ages 18 to 22 months.

Prenatal exposure to corticosteroids also led to significantly fewer instances of other conditions among those born at 23-25 weeks. These included bleeding in the brain and a severe infection of the intestines known as necrotizing enterocolitis.

We knew that many physicians were exercising their medical judgment to prescribe the treatment in cases not covered by the guidelines,” says study co-author Dr. Rosemary D. Higgins of NICHD. These findings provide strong evidence that prenatal steroids can benefit infants born as early as the 23rd week of pregnancy.


  • http://www. nichd. nih. gov/health/topics/Preterm_Labor_and_Birth.

  • http://www. nichd. nih. gov/research/supported/nrn.

Article Source:
 http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/december2011/12122011preemies.htm

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Friday, 28 July 2023 17:45

Respiratory viruses like influenza virus (flu), SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can make us sick by infecting our respiratory system, including the nose, upper...

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 12:55

With the rising cost of living, gyms memberships and fitness classes are becoming increasingly unaffordable. But the good news is you can make just as much progress at home.

Thursday, 06 May 2021 00:51

Have you ever walked into an empty room and immediately sensed that the atmosphere was laced with tension? You may have had no idea what occurred there prior to your arrival, yet you somehow knew...

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 08:30

In 2019, Burger King Sweden released a plant-based burger, the Rebel Whopper, and the reaction was underwhelming. So, the company challenged its customers to taste the difference.

Friday, 14 May 2021 08:30

Fertility has declined in most industrialised countries. While the causes are largely unknown, a number of factors may contribute to declining fertility rates, including the age...

Thursday, 15 April 2021 13:22

Skin brushing is a highly effective technique for cleansing the lymphatic system. Topics covered in this article: Benefits of Skin Brushing; What type of skin brush is the best to use; How to Brush...

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.