Steroids (steroids), which make premature babies develop better, may increase the risk of disorders such as ADHD, reports the journal PLoS One.
Premature babies – that is, babies born between 22 and 37 weeks’ gestation – often develop health problems. Steroids – for example dexamethasone – are given to pregnant women who are at risk of premature birth. This allows the baby’s lungs to develop faster, reducing the risk of serious breathing problems at birth.
Research by specialists from Imperial College in London and the University of Oulu ( Finland) has shown that steroids can affect the developing brain, and that children whose mothers were given them during pregnancy have a higher risk of attention deficit disorders – such as ADHD – at the age of eight.
No such effect was found at 16 years of age, but this may have been due to the small number of children studied. The development of 37 premature babies whose mothers were given steroids and 185 children of the same weight and developmental age who did not receive such treatment were compared.
According to the specialists, the discovery speaks in favour of regular review examinations. Giving up steroids would, in the case of premature babies, be dangerous for the baby’s health and life.
The causes of preterm births have not yet been thoroughly clarified, but it is known that they are favoured, for example, by urinary tract infections, pre-eclampsia, placental problems, obesity or gestational diabetes.
A test for the level of a protein – fetal fibronectin – is used to predict preterm birth. It usually appears in vaginal secretions around 22 weeks of pregnancy, then disappears and reappears towards the end of pregnancy. The secretion of fibronectin after 22 weeks of pregnancy can indicate a risk of preterm birth. The measurement of the hormone progesterone in saliva is of similar importance. (PAP)
Source
- https://www.medonet.pl/zdrowie/wiadomosci,podawane-podczas-ciazy-steroidy-moga-sprzyjac-adhd,artykul,1692103.html
