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Corticosteroids may reduce or enhance hypoxic-ischaemic injury to the developing brain depending on timing and dosage. Clinical trials of maternally administered corticosteroid show no evidence of increased disability on follow up but numbers are small. Postnatal trials of dexamethasone when brain maturity is still preterm show a significant increase in later disability in the dexamethasone treated groups. There is evidence from randomised trials, retrospective data, experiments on pregnant mice, and the chemical make up of the preparations that betamethasone may be safer and more protective of the immature brain than dexamethasone. Single course corticosteroid treatment before preterm delivery must still be recommended as a life saving and cost effective intervention, but clinicians may wish to change from using dexamethasone to betamethasone. In view of the animal and postnatal data, clinicians should be cautious with repeated courses of antenatal corticosteroids and repetition may be unnecessary for lung maturity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/fn.83.2.f154","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,27]],"date-time":"2002-07-27T06:40:22Z","timestamp":1027752022000},"page":"F154-F157","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":156,"title":["Antenatal steroids and the developing brain"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"83","author":[{"given":"Andrew","family":"Whitelaw","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"aDivision of Child Health, University of Bristol Medical School, Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK, \n\nbDivision of Child Health, St Michael's Hospital, Bristol BS2 8EG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marianne","family":"Thoresen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"aDivision of Child Health, University of Bristol Medical School, Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK, \n\nbDivision of Child Health, St Michael's Hospital, Bristol BS2 8EG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2000,9,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025090513290292000_83.2.F154.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1080","DOI":"10.1016\/0002-9378(67)90031-2","article-title":"Failure of initiation of parturition after electrocoagulation of the pituitary of the fetal lamb.","volume":"98","author":"Liggins","year":"1967","journal-title":"Am J Obstet Gynecol"},{"key":"2025090513290292000_83.2.F154.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1677\/joe.0.0450515"},{"key":"2025090513290292000_83.2.F154.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.50.4.515","article-title":"A controlled trial of antepartum glucocorticoid treatment for prevention of the respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants.","volume":"50","author":"Liggins","year":"1972","journal-title":"Pediatrics"},{"key":"2025090513290292000_83.2.F154.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1471-0528.1990.tb01711.x"},{"key":"2025090513290292000_83.2.F154.5","unstructured":"Crowley P (1999) Prophylactic corticosteroids for preterm delivery (Cochrane review). 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