Neonatologists are using much less dexamethasone
- E S Shinwell1,
- M Karplus2,
- D Bader3,
- S Dollberg4,
- I Gur5,
- Z Weintraub6,
- S Arnon7,
- E Gottfreid8,
- A Zaritsky9,
- I R Makhoul10,
- D Reich11,
- L Sirota12,
- I Berger13,
- A Kogan14,
- S Yurman15,
- M Goldberg16,
- D Kohelet17
- 1Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel
- 2Soroka Medical Center, Beersheva, Israel
- 3Bnei Zion Hospital, Haifa, Israel
- 4Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
- 5Bikur Holim Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
- 6Carmel Hospital, Haifa
- 7Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel
- 8Ziv Hospital, Tsfat, Israel
- 9Barzilai Hospital, Ashkelon, Israel
- 10Rambam Hospital, Haifa
- 11Ha’emek Hospital, Afula, Israel
- 12Schneider Children’s Hospital, Petach Tikva, Israel
- 13Western Galilee Hospital, Nahariya, Israel
- 14Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
- 15Hillel Yaffe Hospital, Hadera, Israel
- 16Assaf Harofe Hospital, Tsrifin, Israel
- 17Wolfson Hospital, Holon, Israel
- Correspondence to:
Dr Shinwell, Department of Neonatology, Kaplan Medical Center, PO Box 1, Rehovot, Israel;
eric_s{at}clalit.org.il
- Accepted 11 October 2002
Abstract
Two historical cohorts (1993–1994 and 2001) of preterm infants ventilated for respiratory distress syndrome were compared. Dexamethasone administration fell from 22% to 6%. Chronic lung disease in survivors rose slightly from 13% to 17%, and mortality fell from 21% to 15% (other causes). The effect of restriction of dexamethasone use on chronic lung disease and mortality remains to be seen.
