The Neonatal European Study of Inhaled Steroids (NEUROSIS): An EU-Funded International Randomised Controlled Trial in Preterm Infants

inflammatory properties, and early inhalation of corticosteroids may provide beneficial local effects on the lungs prior to development of a full inflammatory response with a lower risk of undesirable systemic side effects. Inhaled Postnatal SteroidsThe efficacy of inhaled steroids to prevent BPD has already been investigated in several randomised trials, both in comparison with systemic steroids [13] and with placebo [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] .According to recent systematic reviews on inhaled drugs for the prevention and treatment of BPD, there are 7 fully published controlled trials in which infants were either randomised to inhaled steroids or placebo within 2 weeks of life [21,22] .However, these trials have not provided a definite answer to the question of best timing of inhalation of steroids.