Abstract
Objectives
The study aimed to evaluate the impact of antenatal steroid administration, a key intervention for reducing early mortality and morbidity in preterm infants, on the development of metabolic bone disease.
Methods
This single-center retrospective study was conducted in a Level III neonatal intensive care unit from October 2020 to December 2023.
Results
It included 173 infants born before 32 weeks of gestation, with a mean birth weight of 1,338 ± 293 g. Metabolic bone disease, diagnosed at four weeks of age based on serum phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase levels, was identified in 26 (15 %) of the infants. Regression analysis examined prenatal factors, including birth weight, intrauterine growth restriction, respiratory distress syndrome, gender, and antenatal steroid exposure, revealing that only lower birth weight was an independent risk factor for metabolic bone disease.
Conclusions
Antenatal steroid administration did not significantly influence the diagnosis of metabolic bone disease when assessed using biochemical markers at four weeks of age. These findings underscore the importance of birth weight in the risk profile for metabolic bone disease while indicating that antenatal steroids are not a contributing factor.
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Research ethics: Ethical approval for this study was granted by the local Institutional Review Board (Approval ID: [E2-23-4569], Date: [19.07.2023]) and the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013).
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Informed consent: Applicable.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Data available on request due to privacy/ethical/legal restrictions.
References
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© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review
- A recent update on childhood obesity: aetiology, treatment and complications
- Original Articles
- Chronotype, sleep, and glycemic control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: a case-control study
- Determinants of childhood and adolescent obesity and it’s effect on metabolism in South Indian population
- Evaluation of continuous glucose monitoring and nutritional status in glycogen storage diseases
- Retrospective assessment of hepatic involvement in patients with inherited metabolic disorders: nine-year single-center experience
- Relationships among biological sex, body composition, and bone mineral density in young persons with and without diabetes
- The clinical characteristics of 10 cases and adult height of six cases of rare familial male-limited precocious puberty
- Optimal timing of repeat thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy
- Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in North Macedonia – ten years experience
- The effect of antenatal steroids on metabolic bone disease of prematurity
- Prader-Willi syndrome gene expression profiling of obese and non-obese patients reveals transcriptional changes in CLEC4D and ANXA3
- Early-onset growth hormone treatment in Prader–Willi syndrome attenuates transition to severe obesity
- Case Reports
- Neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism with inactivating calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) mutation (p.I81K)
- Clinical manifestations and molecular genetics of seven patients with Niemann–Pick type-C: a case series with a novel variant
- Expanding the genotypic spectrum of 3β-hydroxy-δ5-C27-steroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B7) deficiency: novel mutations and clinical outcomes
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review
- A recent update on childhood obesity: aetiology, treatment and complications
- Original Articles
- Chronotype, sleep, and glycemic control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: a case-control study
- Determinants of childhood and adolescent obesity and it’s effect on metabolism in South Indian population
- Evaluation of continuous glucose monitoring and nutritional status in glycogen storage diseases
- Retrospective assessment of hepatic involvement in patients with inherited metabolic disorders: nine-year single-center experience
- Relationships among biological sex, body composition, and bone mineral density in young persons with and without diabetes
- The clinical characteristics of 10 cases and adult height of six cases of rare familial male-limited precocious puberty
- Optimal timing of repeat thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy
- Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in North Macedonia – ten years experience
- The effect of antenatal steroids on metabolic bone disease of prematurity
- Prader-Willi syndrome gene expression profiling of obese and non-obese patients reveals transcriptional changes in CLEC4D and ANXA3
- Early-onset growth hormone treatment in Prader–Willi syndrome attenuates transition to severe obesity
- Case Reports
- Neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism with inactivating calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) mutation (p.I81K)
- Clinical manifestations and molecular genetics of seven patients with Niemann–Pick type-C: a case series with a novel variant
- Expanding the genotypic spectrum of 3β-hydroxy-δ5-C27-steroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B7) deficiency: novel mutations and clinical outcomes