Abstract
In infants with chronic lung disease, corticosteroids improve respiratory compliance and reduce the need for oxygen supplementation, but there is no evidence of any effect on the duration of hospitalization. Steroids facilitate extubation in ventilator-dependent infants from 7 days to 28 days after treatment. Whether corticosteroids given after the first week of life improve the survival of infants developing chronic lung disease remains to be confirmed; thus clinicians must weigh the benefits of acute improvement in respiratory function and increased chances of extubation with a possible improved survival against the potential detrimental effects, both metabolic and neurological. Given the evidence of the benefits and harms of treatment and the limitations of the evidence, it seems prudent to reserve the use of late corticosteroids only for infants who cannot be weaned from mechanical ventilation after the first week of life and to minimize the dose and duration of any course of treatment.
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Perugi, S., Dani, C. (2015). Corticosteroids in Neonatology: Postnatal Corticosteroids in Preterm Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. In: Cimaz, R. (eds) Systemic Corticosteroids for Inflammatory Disorders in Pediatrics. Adis, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16056-6_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16056-6_14
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