Dexamethasone therapy for chronic lung disease in ventilator- and oxygen-dependent infants: a controlled trial.

To determine whether dexamethasone therapy altered the outcome of chronic lung disease in neonates, we conducted a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Twenty-one 30-day-old oxygen- and ventilator-dependent infants were enrolled. The mean (+/- SD) birth weight was 808.1 +/- 141 gm and the mean gestational age was 26.0 +/- 1.5 weeks. There were 17 black and 12 male infants. Twelve received placebo and nine received dexamethasone. Neither severity of early illness, birth weight, gestational age, age when treated, gender and race distribution, nor frequency of diuretic therapy differed significantly between groups. The age at extubation, 57.2 days (placebo) versus 39.4 days (steroid), was significantly different. The average oxygen requirements of the steroid-treated patients was significantly lower than for placebo-treated patients during the first 10 days of treatment. There were no differences for placebo-versus steroid-treated patients in age when weaned to room air (95.5 days vs 74.9 days), age at discharge (119 days vs 111 days), or number of deaths (2 (17%) vs 1 (11%]. Dexamethasone therapy was associated with a significantly increased incidence of hyperglycemia (89% vs 8%) but did not influence the incidence of hypertension, intracranial hemorrhage, infection, or retinopathy of prematurity. The steroid-treated patients had a significant delay in weight gain during the first 3 weeks of treatment but recovered by discharge. Our results suggest that dexamethasone produces acute improvement in infants with lung disease but no long-term effect on mortality rate, duration of oxygen requirement or age at discharge.

The pattern of eosinophilia in premature infants. A prospective study in premature infants using the absolute eosinophil count.

The incidence and severity of eosinophilia was prospectively studied in 45 premature infants, who were divided into three groups according to their gestational age. The incidence and severity of eosinophilia was higher in small preterm infants. A significantly higher number of infants with eosinophilia received total parenteral nutrition, endotracheal intubation, or blood transfusions. The duration of total parenteral nutrition or endotracheal intubation and the number of blood transfusions were also significantly higher in infants with eosinophilia. Eosinophilia in premature infants is not associated with neutropenia.

Postheparin lipolytic activity and Intralipid clearance in very low-birth-weight infants.

The effect of heparin (10 U/kg) on serum lipolytic activity, triglyceride and FFA levels, during four hours infusion of 0.5 gm/kg Intralipid was measured in 18 AGA infants, 25 to 32 weeks' gestational age. PHLA, TG, and FFA were measured at 0, 10, 30, 120, and 240 minutes of infusion of Intralipid, before and following a bolus of 10 U/kg heparin iv. Lipolytic activity, measured by hydrolysis of activated tri-3H-oleate and expressed in mumol FFA released per milliliter serum per hour, was not detected in serum before heparin administration. Ten minutes after heparin administration peak PHLA was significantly higher in infants of 27 to 32 weeks' gestation than in infants of 25 to 26 weeks' gestation. There was no significant difference in peak PHLA between infants of 27 to 28 and 29 to 32 weeks' gestation. PHLA returned to baseline (zero) two hours after heparin administration in all infants. Infants of 25 to 26 weeks' gestational age had significantly higher concentrations of serum triglycerides before and during Intralipid infusion than in infants of 27 to 32 weeks' gestational age. Although there was a transient rise in FFA 10 and 30 minutes after heparin administration, the levels of FFA and triglycerides were not different at the end of infusion with or without heparin in either group, suggesting that a single bolus of heparin has only a transient effect on Intralipid clearance.