NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Steroid treatment given immediately before or after birth to reduce the rate and severity of chronic lung disease does not appear to harm cardiac function in children later on, according to a review of published studies by Dutch researchers.

Not much is known about the cardiac function of school-aged children who were born prematurely and treated with steroids just before or after birth, Dr. Willem B. de Vries, from University Medical Center Utrecht, and colleagues note.

To further investigate, de Vries's group evaluated the cardiac function in a group of 99 prematurely born 7- to 10-year-old children who had been treated just after birth with glucocorticoids, commonly used to treat lung disease. The infants received either dexamethasone or hydrocortisone and 51 of their counterparts treated just before birth with betamethasone.

These children were compared with a reference group of 43 prematurely born children who had not been exposed to any steroid therapy.

The investigators found no significant differences between the groups for heart rate, blood pressure, biochemical features, blood vessel thickness or the heart's ability to pumping blood.

de Vries and colleagues caution, however, that this study may have been conducted too early to reveal steroid-related adverse cardiovascular effects.

Prolonged follow-up for cardiac abnormalities, they point out, is recommended for children born premature and treated with steroids.

The results of animal studies show that the consequences of neonatal steroid therapy on the heart's structure may emerge only in adulthood.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, August 2008.

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