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[Antenatal betamethasone during pregnancy with severe diabetes: is better worse than good?]

C Barondiot1, O Morel, R Vieux

  • 1Service de néonatalogie-soins intensifs et réanimation néonatals, maternité régionale Nancy-Universités, 10, rue du Docteur-Heydenreich, 54042 Nancy, France.

Archives De Pediatrie : Organe Officiel De La Societe Francaise De Pediatrie
|April 27, 2007
PubMed

Diabetic pregnancy is a precarious situation, both for mother and fetus, because it increases the risk of prematurity and respiratory distress. We report 3 cases of severe acute complications following antenatal betamethasone treatment in mothers presenting with severe diabetes. Corticosteroids are strongly recommended to prevent prematurity complications in newborns. We highlight the high risk profile of theses pregnancies, the effect of this treatment on the mother and the child, and question the real benefit of corticotherapy for these fragile newborns. The metabolic and blood pressure balance is dangerously disturbed in such pregnancies by this treatment. This brings the question of how justified are corticosteroids in such cases?

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