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Settled ground

Cortisol's most proven use is a drug given before an early birth

One course of corticosteroids, synthetic relatives of cortisol, given to women at risk of an early birth, cut newborn deaths and breathing failure. It is among obstetrics' best-established treatments.

Cortisol

Cortisol turns up online as the hormone to get down. Its best-proven use runs the other way: one course of corticosteroids, synthetic relatives of cortisol, given to women at risk of an early birth, cut newborn deaths and breathing failure. These are drugs timed to ripen a baby's lungs, a different matter from living with a lot of your own, and what becomes of those children later is still being studied. Used deliberately, the same family is one of the best things obstetrics has.

The findings behind this

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Sexual & reproductiveSynthetic cortisol given before an early birth cuts newborn deaths

Women at risk of an early birth were given one course of corticosteroids, drugs closely related to cortisol. Fewer of their babies died, and fewer had breathing failure.

★★★Well replicated — this finding’s sources average out to meta-analyses, systematic reviews or high-powered trials.These are synthetic drugs given deliberately to ripen a baby's lungs, which is a different matter from living with a lot of one's own cortisol. What becomes of those children years later is still being studied. So is the safety of giving more than one course.Click to keep this openSupport a healthy pregnancyCortisol

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