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Betamethasone
Repeated courses of a drug that is used to improve the survival of unborn premature babies also may increase the risk of cerebral palsy in those children. The drug is a corticosteroid called betamethasone is given to women at risk of premature delivery to hasten the development of their baby's lungs. One course of steroids has been shown to reduce neonatal mortality and improve lung function with little risk to the infant.
In one of the first such trials to examine the long-term effects of the treatment on the children, women who remained pregnant a week after the initial course of corticosteroids were randomly assigned to weekly courses of corticosteroids or placebo until their babies were born. The study followed a total of 556 infants at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia and 12 other sites around the country, and found that by ages two to three, the two groups of children were physically and neurologically identical, except that six out of 248 children who received multiple courses of corticosteroids had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, compared to only 1 out of 238 children in the placebo group. The mothers of all six children with cerebral palsy in the corticosteroid group had received four or more courses of the drug.
Published on Sep-20-07
In one of the first such trials to examine the long-term effects of the treatment on the children, women who remained pregnant a week after the initial course of corticosteroids were randomly assigned to weekly courses of corticosteroids or placebo until their babies were born. The study followed a total of 556 infants at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia and 12 other sites around the country, and found that by ages two to three, the two groups of children were physically and neurologically identical, except that six out of 248 children who received multiple courses of corticosteroids had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, compared to only 1 out of 238 children in the placebo group. The mothers of all six children with cerebral palsy in the corticosteroid group had received four or more courses of the drug.
Betamethasone Legal Help
If you or a loved one has suffered damages in this corticosteroid case, please click the link below to send your complaint to a lawyer to evaluate your claim at no cost or obligation.Published on Sep-20-07
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