Science / Medicine : Steroid Drug Combats Babies’ Lung Disease

Premature babies and those with very low birth weight who have breathing problems can be taken off mechanical respirators sooner and have fewer long-term problems if they are treated with a steroid drug called dexamethasone, according to neonatalogists at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, the most common lung disease in premature infants, is a major cause of their prolonged hospitalization and death.

The researchers reported last week in the New England Journal of Medicine that they also observed no significant side effects from the therapy. Such side effects had been observed in previous studies based on anecdotal evidence, and their presence had discouraged many hospitals from using the drug.

Follow-up of the infants at the age of 6 months and 15 months indicated normal neurological development in seven of nine infants given dexamethasone for 42 days, but in only two of nine given the drug for a much shorter period and in only two of five given conventional therapy.