1 LAC-USC Medical Center, USC School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
2 Sacred Heart Hospital, University of Florida, Pensacola, FL
We thank Dr Zecca and associates for their interest in our paper.1 Their concerns regarding possible cardiac side effects during steroid therapy in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants are quite appropriate and, we feel, further emphasize the benefits of an "early" (mean postnatal age, 9 to 10 days) and "short" (7 days) course of dexamethasone therapy for this group of infants at risk for long-term pulmonary morbidities. The prior studies they have referenced2-5 and another recent study6 applied longer courses of steroid therapy (up to 42 days) to infants with well-established chronic lung disease (CLD).