Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Sep 24;331(7518):665.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.38576.494363.E0. Epub 2005 Sep 5.

Antenatal exposure to betamethasone: psychological functioning and health related quality of life 31 years after inclusion in randomised controlled trial

Stuart R Dalziel  1 , Vanessa K Lim, Anthony Lambert, Dianne McCarthy, Varsha Parag, Anthony Rodgers, Jane E Harding
Affiliations

Antenatal exposure to betamethasone: psychological functioning and health related quality of life 31 years after inclusion in randomised controlled trial

Stuart R Dalziel et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To determine if antenatal exposure to betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome alters psychological functioning and health related quality of life in adulthood.

Design: Follow-up of the first and largest double blind, placebo controlled, randomised trial of a single course of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

Setting: Tertiary obstetric hospital in Auckland, New Zealand.

Participants: 192 adult offspring, mean age 31 years, of mothers who took part in a randomised controlled trial of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (87 exposed to betamethasone and 105 exposed to placebo).

Interventions: Mothers received two doses of betamethasone or placebo 24 hours apart.

Main outcome measures: Cognitive functioning assessed with Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence; working memory and attention assessed with Benton visual retention test, paced auditory serial addition test, and Brown attention deficit disorder scale; psychiatric morbidity assessed with Beck depression inventory II, state-trait anxiety inventory, and schizotypy traits questionnaire; handedness assessed with Edinburgh handedness inventory; health related quality of life assessed with short form 36 health survey.

Results: No differences were found between groups exposed to betamethasone and placebo in cognitive functioning, working memory and attention, psychiatric morbidity, handedness, or health related quality of life.

Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to a single course of betamethasone does not alter cognitive functioning, working memory and attention, psychiatric morbidity, handedness, or health related quality of life in adulthood. Obstetricians should continue to use a single course of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow to psychological follow-up in adulthood. *Details published elsewhere. †Non-participants presumed to be alive at age 30. ‡Traced but declined participation in cardiorespiratory adult follow-up or residing overseas and not returning to New Zealand within timeframe of study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. National Institutes of Health. Effect of corticosteroids for fetal maturation on perinatal outcomes. NIH Consensus Statement 1994;12(2): 1-24. - PubMed
    1. Crowley P. Prophylactic corticosteroids for preterm birth. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2000;(2): CD000065. - PubMed
    1. MacArthur BA, Howie RN, Dezoete JA, Elkins J. School progress and cognitive development of 6-year-old children whose mothers were treated antenatally with betamethasone. Pediatrics 1982;70: 99-105. - PubMed
    1. Huang WL, Harper CG, Evans SF, Newnham JP, Dunlop SA. Repeated prenatal corticosteroid administration delays myelination of the corpus callosum in fetal sheep. Int J Dev Neurosci 2001;19: 415-25. - PubMed
    1. French NP, Hagan R, Evans SF, Godfrey M, Newnham JP. Repeated antenatal corticosteroids: size at birth and subsequent development. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1999;180: 114-21. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms