THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF ANTENATAL STEROIDS ARE INFLUENCED BY THE EARLY CLINICAL CONDITIONS OF PRETERM INFANTS.

This study investigated the effects of antenatal steroid (AS) administration on the clinical conditions of preterm infants shortly after birth, and estimated the residual contribution of AS, after adjusting for the clinical risk index for babies (CRIB), on in hospital mortality. The study population consisted of all infants under 32 weeks gestation or with a birth weight less than or equal to 1500 g admitted within the first week after birth to 11 neonatal intensive care units in the Lazio region of central Italy during the years 1999-2001. A positive effect of Full AS treatment on mortality was mainly among those babies with an intermediate CRIB score while for the sickest babies the benefit of AS treatment disappears.