Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian in New York have found using corticosteroids in women at risk for late preterm delivery reduced the chance of severe respiratory complications in their babies.
The multicenter clinical trail involved more than 2,800 pregnant women identified as high risk of delivery during the late preterm period (34 to 36 weeks of gestation). The women were randomized to receive two injections of the steroid betamethasone or a placebo, given 24 hours apart.
The babies whose mothers received betamethasone were much less likely to develop severe respiratory complications shortly after birth than those whose mothers were given a placebo. Specifically, neonates from the treatment group experienced lower rates of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a lung condition that increases the risk of chronic lung disease during childhood.
The trial also revealed babies in the treatment group were considerably less likely to require a long-term stay in the hospital's neonatal intensive or intermediate care unit or need respiratory treatments such as surfactant.
According to lead investigator Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, MD, an associate professor of women's health at CUMC and an obstetrician and maternal-fetal medicine specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian, the findings of the study will "transform the way we care for mothers at risk for late preterm delivery."
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