The Use of Dexamethasone in Premature Infants at Risk for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia or Who Already Have Developed Chronic Lung Disease: A Cautionary Note
To the Editor.— The distressingly high incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in today's very low birth weight premature infant population and the prolonged morbidity and tumultuous clinical problems associated with BPD in these tiny infants have led to a trial usage of dexamethasone treatment to try to assuage these problems in this patient population. The report of Kazzi et al1 is noteworthy because the authors not only indicate in clear fashion the failure of relatively prolonged dexamethasone treatment to ameliorate the hospital course of infants with BPD (in a randomized prospective double-blind study), but they also clearly identify potential risk factors associated with dexamethasone treatment that are of concern to them as clinical investigators, risk factors based both on clinical and experimental animal studies.