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medpundit |
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Thursday, March 25, 2004All premature babies are at risk for brain damage. But the 72 children who had been given dexamethasone had IQs an average of five points lower than the 74 who had received the dummy shots. They were also more easily distracted and scored an average of three points lower on a 36-point arithmetic test. Those differences did not affect the youngsters' schoolwork. That is probably because many Taiwanese families with disabled children hire tutors or send them to special classes to help them catch up, Yeh said. Dexamethasone is a steroid given to premature babies whose lungs haven't developed properly. It's supposed to improve their survival. But this study, which requires a subscription for full access, doesn't come close to proving that the therapy is bad. For one thing, the IQ difference betweent the two groups is very small. And it's even less consequential when you consider that the margin of error in the IQ of the kids in the study ranged from 12 to 15 points. The study also mentions that kids who got dexamethasone were on average one and a half inches shorter than those who didn't. But, the graphic accompanying the paper undermines that claim. It's a plot of height vs. age with the control group being represented by white dots and the dexamethasone group being represented by black dots. The black and white dots are evenly distributed about the graph, all mixed up together like a melting pot, except for one or two outliers. (I wish I could reproduce it, it's such a classic, but I don't want to violate copyright laws.) You have to wonder if the few kids at the extreme might not have had other complicating factors that account for their height. I wouldn't give up on dexamethasone therpay just yet. posted by Sydney on 3/25/2004 10:31:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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