Researchers have found that injecting expectant mothers with corticosteroids to prevent premature babies from having respiratory distress syndrome could expose the infant to 1.22 to 1.52 times more of a risk of sepsis, pneumonia, acute gastroenteritis and other severe infections.
The study, conducted by Tsai Hui-ju (蔡慧如), a researcher at the National Health Research Insitututes’ Insititute of Population Health Sciences, Linkou Changgung Memorial Hospital doctor Yao Tsung-chieh (姚宗杰) and others, said that studies on the safety of the treatment were lacking, despite its prevalent use.
Antenatal corticosteroids are considered standard at 24 to 34 weeks’ gestation for pregnant women who are at risk of preterm delivery to prevent neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, the study’s abstract said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The study found that although the lungs are the primary target of such treatment, other systems such as the neurological or immune systems, might also be affected.
“Recent observational cohort studies suggest that exposure to antenatal corticosteroids could be associated with long-term neurodevelopmental harms in children,” the abstract reads.
The study used statistics from the National Health Insurance Research, Birth Reporting and Maternal and Child Health databases to look at all pregnant women in Taiwan and their offspring from 2008 to 2019.
Of the 45,232 children exposed to antenatal corticosteroids, 18,148 or 40.1 percent, were born at full term, and 27,084, or 59.9 percent, were born preterm, the study found.
The team evaluated the effects of antenatal corticosteroids on severe infection in three stages: at the first three, six and 12 months of life.
The cumulative incidence of serious sepsis, pneumonia, acute gastroenteritis and pyelonephritis, separately, during the first 12 months of life, was more significant in children exposed to antenatal corticosteroids than in those not exposed, the study said.
However, the study was not an attempt to stop antenatal corticosteroid use; it only wished to highlight the safety of the treatment, Yao said.
There were more benefits to the treatment than not, and severe infections causing children to be hospitalized were few and far between, Tsai said.
Institute President Sytwu Huey-kang (司徒惠康) on Monday last week said that the research was of great significance and would help form a benign system of treatment for children.
The research was submitted to the British Medical Journal on June 12 and was published on Aug. 2.
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