A Three-day Course of Dexamethasone Therapy to Prevent Chronic Lung Disease in Ventilated Neonates: A Randomized Trial

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) 1999-07, Vol.104 (1), p.91-99
• Main Authors: Garland, Jeffery S, Alex, Colleen P, Pauly, Thomas H, Whitehead, Vicki L, Brand, Joseph, Winston, James F, Samuels, David P, McAuliffe, Timothy L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia - prevention & control; Care and treatment; Dexamethasone; Dexamethasone - administration & dosage; Dexamethasone - adverse effects; Drug therapy; Emergency and intensive care: neonates and children. Prematurity. Sudden death; Evaluation; Female; Glucocorticoids - administration & dosage; Glucocorticoids - adverse effects; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; Infants (Premature); Intensive care medicine; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Pediatrics; Premature infants; Prospective Studies; Respiration, Artificial; Respiratory distress syndrome; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn - drug therapy; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn - mortality; Survival Rate
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.104.1.91

Although several trials of early dexamethasone therapy have been completed to determine if such therapy would reduce mortality and chronic lung disease (CLD) in infants with respiratory distress, optimal duration and side effects of such therapy remain unknown. The purpose of this study was: 1) to determine if a 3-day course of early dexamethasone therapy would reduce CLD and increase survival without CLD in neonates who received surfactant therapy for respiratory distress syndrome and 2) to determine adverse effects associated with such therapy. This was a prospective multicenter randomized trial comparing a 3-day course of dexamethasone therapy beginning at 24 to 48 hours of life to placebo therapy. Two hundred forty-one neonates (dexamethasone n = 118, placebo n = 123), who weighed between 500 g and 1500 g, received surfactant therapy, and were at significant risk for CLD or death using a model to predict CLD or death at 24 hours of life, were enrolled in the trial. Infants randomized to receive early dexamethasone were given 6 doses of dexamethasone at 12-hour intervals beginning at 24 to 48 hours of life. The primary outcomes compared were survival without CLD and CLD. CLD was defined by the need for supplemental oxygen at the gestational age of 36 weeks. Complication rates and adverse effects of study drug therapy were also compared. Neonates randomized to early dexamethasone treatment were more likely to survive without CLD (RR: 1.3; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.7) and were less likely to develop CLD (RR: 0.6; CI: 0.3, 0. 98). Mortality rates were not significantly different. Subsequent dexamethasone therapy use was less in early dexamethasone-treated neonates (RR: 0.8; CI: 0.7, 0.96). Very early (