PEDIATRICS Vol. 55 No. 4 April 1975, pp. 500-502
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Plasma Corticoids in the Respiratory Distress Syndrome and in Normal Infants

George E. Bacon M.D.1, Rachel George M.D.1, Steve T. Koeff M.D.1, and William F. Howatt M.D.1

1 Departments of Pediatrics and Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, and the Wayne County General Hospital, Eloise, Michigan

Serial plasma samples for corticoid determination were obtained during the neonatal period in 16 infants with RDS (eight of whom died) and 44 healthy babies. The median corticoid level in the eight infants with fatal RDS was considerably higher than that of patients with RDS who survived, or the normal babies. The median corticoid level in the surviving RDS infants was statistically greater than that of the normal controls, but the actual difference was only 1.9 µg/100 ml. Simultaneous pH, Pco2, Po2,, HCO3 and corticoid measurements were obtained serially in five patients with fatal RDS. However, the correlation between plasma corticoids and the acid-base determination was poor in all but one infant. It is concluded that infants are able to respond to severe physical stress in the neonatal period with an appropriate rise in plasma corticoid concentration, but lesser degrees of illness may cause only minimal changes in corticoid levels.