A new study has suggested that the use of corticosteroid treatment for pregnant women can increase risks of cerebral palsy in the child.
A single dose of corticosteroids is considered to reduce the risk of a child being born with lung deficiencies, but women who require repeated dosage of the drugs may be raising the risks of cerebral palsy development in their babies.
Cerebral palsy is more a physical condition affecting movement than a disease - injury to different parts of the brain lead to different forms of the condition, with muscle stiffness, posture and balance afflicted to different degrees according to what form the condition has taken.
The risks of developing all types of cerebral palsy are claimed to be heightened by repeat doses of corticosteroids by the new study from the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, results of research showed that children born to women repeatedly receiving corticosteroid treatments were more likely to develop the condition - six of those born to mothers on repeated dosage had cerebral palsy, compared to only one born to women given placebos instead.
Researchers concluded: "The rate of cerebral palsy in infants exposed to multiple courses is of concern and suggests that exposure to repeat courses of antenatal corticosteroids should be limited."
Woemn who embark are corticosteroid treatments may then be advised to talk to a doctor and seek medical advice before doing so, bearing in mind the link drawn with cerebral palsy by the Carolina researchers.
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