Differences between preterm infants receiving a dose for lung maturation and those receiving an additional rescue dose of corticosteroids

Abstract

It is unknown if there is a difference between preterm infants with a history of receiving pulmonary corticosteroid maturation or using an additional rescue dose of corticosteroid. This paper aims to determine the difference between infants with pulmonary maturation and infants who received a rescue dose of corticosteroid. We performed an epidemiological, observational, and cross-sectional study. We analyzed time of stay, the requirement of mechanical ventilation, the use of surfactant, and neurological complications in newborns hospitalized in Neonatology of the Isidro Ayora Gyneco-Obstetric Hospital, 2019. We analyzed 204 preterm infants of 28-37 weeks who received a total lung maturation dose versus an added rescue dose. We analyzed the information with the statistical program SPSS v 22.0. With rescue dose the stay time was 28.4±21.6 days (p <0.05), days of invasive mechanical ventilation 3±5.7 days (p <0.05); Surfactant use 33.3% (p>0.05). We found neurological complications in 6.9% of patients (p> 0.05). In group 2 with not rescue dose use, the stay time was 21.5±16.6 days (p<0.05), days of invasive mechanical ventilation 1.8 ± 4.1 days (p <0.05). Surfactant use was 24.5% (p>0.05), and neurological complications 2% (p> 0.05). Preterm males weighing <1000 g from 30 to 32 weeks, who used rescue doses of corticosteroids, showed an increase in intraventricular hemorrhage (13.7%), seizures (6.9%), and leukomalacia (13.7%), associated with the fact that in the group with rescue dose they are younger and had lower weight.