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Updated: Jul 28, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
School progress and cognitive development of 6-year-old children whose mothers were treated antenatally with
Insights
Maternal betamethasone therapy for premature labor showed no significant long-term cognitive development differences in children by age seven. Follow-up studies confirmed safety and comparable developmental outcomes between treated and control groups.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pediatric neurology
- Developmental psychology
Background:
- Betamethasone is used to accelerate fetal lung maturation in cases of premature labor.
- Previous studies assessed cognitive development in children exposed to maternal betamethasone therapy.
- Long-term cognitive effects require continued investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the cognitive development and school progress of children at seven years of age whose mothers received betamethasone during pregnancy for premature labor.
- To compare outcomes between children exposed to betamethasone and a control group.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of children, born following trials of maternal betamethasone therapy, were assessed at seven years of age.
- Cognitive development was evaluated using psychometric tests.
- School progress was assessed for children in both the betamethasone-exposed and control groups.
- Statistical power calculations were performed to ensure adequate detection of differences.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in cognitive development were observed between children whose mothers received betamethasone and those in the control group across most measures.
- School progress assessments also revealed no significant variations between the two groups.
- The study possessed sufficient statistical power to detect meaningful differences.
Conclusions:
- Maternal betamethasone therapy for premature labor does not appear to have adverse effects on cognitive development or school progress by age seven.
- The findings support the continued use of antenatal corticosteroids for fetal maturation.
- Long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes remain comparable between exposed and unexposed children.
Abstract:
The cognitive development of children whose mothers had been included in the first Auckland trials of betamethasone therapy in premature labor were studied. An earlier study of these children used psychometric tests during the fifth year of life. In the present study tests were given during the seventh year of life (the second year of school) to 250 (82.2%) of 304 surviving children. Of the 250 children, 139 were in the group whose mothers had received betamethasone and 111 were in the control group. Further tests of cognitive development were made, together with assessment of the children's progress in school. Again, on the majority of measures there were no significant differences between children whose mothers had received betamethasone and the children in the control group. Calculations of statistical power showed that important differences were unlikely to have been missed.
