The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
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E.O.S. Madarek
Abstract
Aim: Premature birth is the single largest cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity in non-anomalous infants in all developed nations. The aim of this study is to survey the role of glucocorticoid therapy in decreasing early neonatal complications in preterm delivery.
Methods: A case control study was carried out on 300 preterm labors.Half the women received one to four 6 mg doses of dexamethasone every 6 hours, depending on the interval between admission and delivery. Neonatal complications were compared between the two groups.
Results: Corticosteroid therapy was observed to have the greatest effect in preventing respiratory distress and neonatal mortality between 29–34 gestational weeks. There was a significant relationship between antenatal corticosteroid therapy interval and mortality of preterm neonates. Complications such as respiratory distress, sepsis, pneumonia, and hyperbilirubinemia were significantly lower in the case group than in the control.
Conclusion: It is recommended that all women at high risk for preterm labor before 35 gestational weeks be given glucocorticoid at least 24 hours before delivery in order to markedly reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity.
Copyright © 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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- Message from the President of the WAPM
- Antalya Consensus on Perinatal Care:The Report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1–5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey
- Reduction in mortality needs a bit more than the science of perinatology
- Global, regional and national perinatal and neonatal mortality
- Maternal mortality in Turkey
- Maternal mortality in developing countries
- Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
- The Misgav Ladach method – a step forward in operative technique in obstetrics
- Monitoring the IUGR fetus
- Massive obstetric hemorrhage
- Breech deliveries and cesarean section
- Iron supplementation in pregnancy
- Antenatal diagnosis and prognosis of conjoined twins – a case report
- Preliminary report on a new and noninvasive method for the assessment of fetal lung maturity
- Perinatal mortality rate – hospital based study during 1998–2001 at Hacettepe University
- The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
- Congress Calendar
Articles in the same Issue
- Message from the President of the WCPM
- Message from the President of the WAPM
- Antalya Consensus on Perinatal Care:The Report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1–5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey
- Reduction in mortality needs a bit more than the science of perinatology
- Global, regional and national perinatal and neonatal mortality
- Maternal mortality in Turkey
- Maternal mortality in developing countries
- Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
- The Misgav Ladach method – a step forward in operative technique in obstetrics
- Monitoring the IUGR fetus
- Massive obstetric hemorrhage
- Breech deliveries and cesarean section
- Iron supplementation in pregnancy
- Antenatal diagnosis and prognosis of conjoined twins – a case report
- Preliminary report on a new and noninvasive method for the assessment of fetal lung maturity
- Perinatal mortality rate – hospital based study during 1998–2001 at Hacettepe University
- The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
- Congress Calendar
