Early steroid exposure not risky

Steroid treatment given immediately before or after birth to reduce the rate and severity of chronic lung disease does not affect heart function in children. Not much is known about the heart function of school-aged children who are born prematurely and treated with steroids just before or after birth. To investigate whether steroid treatment at birth is associated with long-term adverse on the heart and high blood pressure, researchers from the Netherlands studied the heart function in a group of 99 prematurely born 7- to 10-year-old children who had been treated just after birth with steroids, commonly used to treat lung disease. The infants received either dexamethasone or hydrocortisone and 51 of another group were treated just before birth with betamethasone. These children were compared with a reference group of 43 prematurely born children who had not been exposed to any steroid therapy. No significant difference was found between the groups for heart rate, blood pressure, biochemical features, blood vessel thickness or the heart's ability to pump blood. Though the above findings show that steroid treatment at the time of birth is safe for children in the long run, prolonged follow-up of heart function is still recommended for children born prematurely who were treated with steroids.

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