Aim: The study aimed to measure the direct effect of dexamethasone (DEXA) on daily lower leg length per mini-knemometry of premature infants and to examine whether the administration of different doses is associated with alternations in growth.
Patients and methods: We observed 20 premature children and had 276 complete mini-knemometrical and weight measurements (13.8 measurements per single child) for analysis. The gestational age of the infants was 26.8 +/- 1.9 weeks; the mean birth weight was 973 +/- 336 g. All infants underwent daily measurements of lower leg length performed by mini-knemometry. We divided the 41 DEXA administrations into three subgroups. Group I included a cumulative dose of 0.75 mg DEXA per kg bodyweight (BW), group II doses between 0.75 and 1.0 mg per kg BW and group III dosages above 1.0 mg per kg BW.
Results: We observed catch-up growth in group I within 24 h after stopping therapy. Groups II and III needed 48-72 h to achieve a normal level in short-term growth.
Conclusion: Lower doses seemed to have an equivalent effect without long-term effect on lower leg length. In higher doses (groups II and III) the growth was suppressed for more than 24 h.