Tag Archives: steroids

Steroid drops for retinopathy?

Posted on 11 August 2026 by Keith Barrington

A just published, modestly sized, multicentre randomized masked trial from Sweden has investigated the efficacy of dexamethasone eyedrops to prevent the progression of pre-threshold RoP. Infants born before 30 weeks’ gestational age (GA) were eligible if they had prethreshold RoP, … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Steroids and BPD, what do we really know?

Posted on 26 March 2026 by Keith Barrington

My first foray into systematic review and meta-analysis was about 25 years ago with this article Barrington KJ. The adverse neuro-developmental effects of postnatal steroids in the preterm infant: a systematic review of RCTs. BMC Pediatr. 2001;1:1. As you can … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Neonatal Research Shorts : October 2025

Posted on 2 October 2025 by Keith Barrington

Afifi J, et al. Atropine Versus Placebo for Neonatal Nonemergent Intubation: A Randomized Clinical Trial. J Pediatr. 2025;286:114719 I had thought this was a settled issue, Neil Finer showed many years ago that atropine alone decreased bradycardias during intubation. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Early hydrocortisone in shock?

Posted on 21 February 2025 by Keith Barrington

A few years ago, we published our experience with the use of hydrocortisone in newborn infants in septic shock (Altit G, et al. Corticosteroid Therapy in Neonatal Septic Shock-Do We Prevent Death? Am J Perinatol. 2018;35(2):146-51), like many such studies … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Surfactant plus Budesonide? Not a PLUSS for outcomes

Posted on 14 November 2024 by Keith Barrington

Many of us were already aware of the general direction of the results of this trial, a multi-centre RCT of surfactant with or without budesonide (Manley BJ, et al. Intratracheal Budesonide Mixed With Surfactant for Extremely Preterm Infants. JAMA. 2024), … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

“Death or NDI” does it matter… to anybody?

Posted on 30 May 2023 by Keith Barrington

Despite the evidence that “NDI” is of little interest to parents, we continue to focus on it in outcome studies, and even equate it with death. Unfortunately, this new study, using the substantial resources of the NICHD NRN and their … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hydrocortisone, with backup dexamethasone, to prevent Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Posted on 28 March 2022 by Keith Barrington

A trial that has been awaited for a while has just been published (Watterberg KL, et al. Hydrocortisone to Improve Survival without Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(12):1121-31). It was a multi-centre RCT of hydrocortisone in 800 very preterm … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

STOP-BPD follow up study

Posted on 13 January 2022 by Keith Barrington

Does routine hydrocortisone, started at 7 to 14 days of age among infants <30 weeks GA and/or <1250g birth weight who were ventilator dependent and at increased risk for BPD, affect their long term developmental progress? (Halbmeijer NM, et al. … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Dexamethasone ENT doses

Posted on 31 August 2020 by Keith Barrington

Although we have a great group of ENT surgeons at my hospital, we do have one bone of contention; at least, there is just one bone left since they have agreed that you cannot diagnose reflux by performing a laryngoscopy! … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Antenatal steroids : good, bad, or both?

Posted on 27 May 2020 by Keith Barrington

Antenatal steroids prior to very preterm birth save lives. Antenatal steroids prior to planned late preterm delivery reduce respiratory distress and increase hypoglycaemia. Might there be other long-term effects on brain structure? There are now some animal models which suggest … Continue reading →

Posted in Neonatal Research | Tagged , , | 4 Comments