From the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160 012.

Reprint requests: Dr. Anil Narang, Additional Professor, Head, Neonatology Division, Department of Pediatrics, PGIMER, Chandigarh 160 012.

Manuscript received: June 5, 1997; Initial review completed: July 31, 1997; Revision accepted: September 23, 1997

Objective: To study the effect of early postnatal dexamethasone therapy on severity of hyaline membrane disease. Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled, unblinded study. Setting: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Methods: 19 babies who had hyaline membrane disease were included in this study. The inclusion criteria were clinical and radiographic diagnosis of RDS, requiring mechanical ventilation and FiO2 > 0.3. Ten babies received injection dexamethasone 0.5 mg/kg/dose 12 hourly for 3 days starting within 6 hours of birth. The control group did not receive any drug. Babies with active infection, bleeding tendency and congenital malformation were excluded. None of the babies received surfactant. The duration of ventilation and AaDO2 and FiO2 requirements from day one to five were calculated. Results: The initial AaDO2 were similar in both the groups but on day 3, 4, 5 AaDO2 were low in study group (201, 85, 70) compared to control group (236, 209, 162). The initial FiO2 were 0.66 and 0.63 in dexamethasone and control groups, respectively and remained high till day 2 and came down in study group on days 3, 4 and 5 (0.41, 0.27, 0.27) compared to control group (0.53, 0.34, 0.42). The mean duration of ventilation was shorter in dexamethasone group (87 hours) vs control group (120 hours). Conclusion: Early use of postnatal dexamethasone reduces the disease severity and oxygen requirement in RDS and hence would be useful in the Indian context.
Key words: Alveolar arterial oxygen gradient, C-reactive protein, Fraction of inspired oxygen, Respiratory distress syndrome.