Olivier Baud, Laure Maury, Florence Lebail, Duksha Ramful, Fatima El Moussawi, Claire Nicaise, Véronique Zupan-Simunek, Anne Coursol, Alain Beuchée, Pascal Bolot, Pierre Andrini, Damir Mohamed, Corinne Alberti
BACKGROUND: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a major complication of extreme prematurity, has few treatment options. Postnatal steroid use is controversial, but low-dose hydrocortisone might prevent the harmful effects of inflammation on the developing lung. In this study, we aimed to assess whether low-dose hydrocortisone improved survival without bronchopulmonary dysplasia in extremely preterm infants. METHODS: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial done at 21 French tertiary-care neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), we randomly assigned (1:1), via a secure study website, extremely preterm infants inborn (born in a maternity ward at the same site as the NICU) at less than 28 weeks of gestation to receive either intravenous low-dose hydrocortisone or placebo during the first 10 postnatal days...
April 30, 2016: Lancet