The impact of betamethasone on fetal pulmonary, umbilical and middle cerebral artery Doppler velocimetry and its relationship with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome

Table 2 Doppler indices in the fetuses from mothers that received steroid treatment compared to the non-exposure group (did not receive steroids)

Parameter	Exposed group N = 51 mean ± SD	Nonexposed group N = 51 mean ± SD	P-value
Umbilical artery PI^a
First time evaluation	0.969 ± 0.105	0.992 ± 0.103	0.714
Second time evaluation	0.898 ± 0.079	0.991 ± 0.093	0.0001*
MCA PI
First time evaluation	1.913 ± 0.133	1.820 ± 0.013	0.191
Second time evaluation	2.015 ± 0.239	1.881 ± 0.121	0.048*
MCA PSV^b
First time evaluation	35.621 ± 4.574	36.451 ± 6.096	0.256
Second time evaluation	36.052 ± 4.041	35.983 ± 4.739	0.481
Pulmonary artery PI
First time evaluation	2.307 ± 0.361	2.072 ± 0.313	0.389
Second time evaluation	2.186 ± 0.280	2.060 ± 0.186	0.817
Pulmonary artery RI^c
First time evaluation	0.836 ± 0.037	0.812 ± 0.057	0.256
Second time evaluation	0.811 ± 0.041	0.829 ± 0.049	0.024
Pulmonary artery Acceleration Time (AT) ms
First time evaluation	0.056 ± 0.013	0.057 ± 0.016	0.129
Second time evaluation	0.063 ± 0.013	0.055 ± 0.092	0.0001*
Pulmonary artery Ejection Time (ET) ms
First time evaluation	0.265 ± 0.041	0.266 ± 0.047	0.158
Second time evaluation	0.264 ± 0.035	0.271 ± 0.083	0.180
Pulmonary artery AT/ET
First time evaluation	0.212 ± 0.029	0.218 ± 0.048	0.211
Second time evaluation	0.229 ± 0.043	0.214 ± 0.031	0.001*

ISSN: 1471-2393