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.
ACCESS DENIAL: Beijing would likely take formation in the Philippine Sea, outside Taipei’s missile range, while its forces on the east would be a deterrent to foreign aid China is increasingly likely to employ a strategy of anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) around Taiwan, which would use three carrier groups, a report from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. When China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is completed next year, China would have three carriers, which would likely be used to surround Taiwan and implement an A2/AD strategy, it said, adding that efforts to strengthen China’s two other carriers — the Liaoning and the Shandong — appear to corroborate this. In the quarterly report, the council cited declassified documents from the Ministry of National Defense that categorized China’s carriers as
Two German warships are awaiting orders from Berlin to determine whether they would be the first German naval vessels in decades to pass through the Taiwan Strait next month, at the risk of stoking tensions with Beijing, a German commander said. While the US and other nations, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy’s first passage through the Strait since 2002. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180km waterway that divides the two sides. Taiwan strongly objects to these claims, saying only its people
Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley yesterday called for more international backing for Taiwan and a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over the nation. “The United States should elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs,” Haley told an audience at the Ketagalan Forum, a Taipei conference focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She called for Taiwan to become a full member of the UN, even though it is being blocked by China from representation in international bodies. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the nation's strongest
China sent 50 military planes and vessels to the vicinity of Taiwan in the 24 hours starting at 6am on Friday, while President William Lai (賴清德) was visiting Kinmen for the first time since taking office in May to mark the 66th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment. Flight paths released yesterday by the Ministry of National Defense showed that 38 military aircraft were detected in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the highest number recorded in recent weeks. The figure included 32 that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or its extension. Of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft