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Steroids safe for babies

New Zealand scientists looking into concerns over the use of the steroid dexamethasone to prevent foetal respiratory distress syndrome has found that giving one dose of steroids to babies in the womb does not have long-term detrimental effects on a child's health.

The study is published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology after previous research raised concerns that steroid treatment could affect a developing baby's brain and heart even though it is the only effective treatment for preventing lung damage in premature babies.

One of the problems premature babies can have is a lack of surfactant, a liquid which lines the lungs and ensures that they don't stick together when a person breaths out.

Steroids given to the mother stimulate the cells in the lining of the foetus' airways that produce the liquid, enabling babies to breath normally after they are born. Doctors in the UK have moved away from using repeated steroid treatments, but concerns remained over the potential long-term effects of one-off doses.

The New Zealand researchers, from the University of Auckland, examined the effect of one, as opposed to repeated courses of steroid treatment, using sheep for their study.

When lambs were around 97 to 99 days gestation - the same stage of gestation as a 32-week-old human foetus - they were given a course of the steroid treatment.

It was found that the treatment led to only a short-term increase in blood pressure, and no effect on the brain.

Dr Laura Bennet, who led the research, said, "We are currently conducting more experiments to verify these results and to make sure that even limited exposure of the foetus to steroids really does not cause problems at this most vulnerable time in life."

Dr Pat O'Brien, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at University College London Hospital, said "This is a very helpful study.

"Previous work had suggested there was no long-term harm from one-off treatments. This is an important study which reinforces that."

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