Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare neonatal outcomes in very-low-birthweight infants who were exposed to antenatal betamethasone vs dexamethasone.
Study design: We reviewed all inborn very-low-birthweight infants from January 1997 through February 2006. Maternal medical records were reviewed to determine the type of antenatal steroids that each patient received; neonatal outcomes were compared using chi-square and Student t tests.
Results: There were 334 very-low-birthweight infants who met the criteria for evaluation: 186 infants received betamethasone, and 148 infants received dexamethasone. There were no differences in race, gestational age at delivery, or mean birthweight between the 2 groups. There were significantly lower rates of respiratory distress syndrome and bronchopulmonary dysplasia in the betamethasone group, compared with the dexamethasone group. Other neonatal outcomes were similar in both groups.
Conclusion: Antenatal betamethasone was associated with a significantly lower rate of pulmonary complications caused by prematurity, when compared with dexamethasone.