Comparisons of infants with more than a 10% improvement with those who had a minimal response in VI at 36–48 hours (values are expressed as median with range or number and percentage)
| ⩾ 10% improvement in VI | <10% improvement in VI | p Value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n=61) | (n=11) | ||||||
| VI at 36–48 hours (percentage of pre-dexamethasone VI) | 39 (0–81) | 121 (95–173) | <0.0001* | ||||
| Gestation (weeks) | 26 (24–31) | 25 (24–28) | 0.24 | ||||
| Antenatal steroids (complete course) | 65% | 50% | 0.363 | ||||
| Respiratory distress syndrome | 77% | 64% | 0.344 | ||||
| Pneumothorax requiring intercostal drain | 10% | 27% | 0.107 | ||||
| Symptomatic PDA | 58% | 82% | 0.14 | ||||
| PIE on pre-dexamethasone x ray picture | 41% | 64% | 0.163 | ||||
| Northway stage | |||||||
| 1 | 33% | 9% | |||||
| 2 | 37% | 64% | 0.181 | ||||
| 3 | 30% | 27% | |||||
| VI prior to dexamethasone | 54.9 (19.8–104.0) | 50.7 (5.9–79.9) | 0.25 | ||||
| Age at dexamethasone (days) | 10 (3–31) | 11 (6–27) | 0.65 | ||||
| Length of dexamethasone course (days) | 25 (3–57) | 20.5 (4–39) | 0.57 | ||||
| Days to extubation | 5 (1–46) | 14 (4–36) | 0.00 | ||||