Glucocorticoids are speculated to have a long-term impact on the development of the nervous system and increase the incidence of cerebral palsy in preterm infants.
The existing studies concerning the role of dexamethasone in preterm infants are insufficiently reliable owing to short follow-up periods and small sample sizes in clinical studies, or the absence of randomized controlled trials.
Ruolin Zhang and co-workers from the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University in China conducted a meta-analysis of 10 relevant randomized controlled trials.
They found that dexamethasone may affect the intelligence of preterm infants in the early stages after birth and may lead to hearing impairment at later stages after birth.
These findings published in Neural Regeneration Research attempt to provide evidence for clinical application of dexamethasone in the treatment of respiratory distress syndrome and chronic lung diseases in preterm infants.
Article
"Effect of dexamethasone on intelligence and hearing in preterm infants: a meta-analysis," by Ruolin Zhang, Tao Bo, Li Shen, Senlin Luo, Jian Li (Department of Pediatrics, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China)
Zhang RL, Bo T, Shen L, Luo SL, Li J. Effect of dexamethasone on intelligence and hearing in preterm infants: a meta-analysis. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(6):637-645.