Abstract:Preterm birth is a medical and severe socioeconomic problem. It is the most common cause of neonatal mortality in developed countries represents 80% of all deaths worldwide in neonatology (over 1.1 million) and more than 30% of the same in Europe. In the United States as of 2010 over 12% of all births are preterm, where 30% increase is observed since 1981 till the present moment. In Brazil, the rate is about 6.5% in 2006 and it is growing, reaching 10.7% in 2011.

In prenatal and neonatal medicine, newer and customizable preventive measures are applied in order to reduce the risk of death of preterm infants, and reduce the probabilityof developing health complications and drug-related side-effects in the treated women and newborns.The positive aspect of corticosteroid use isthe aim to achievepreventive effect on respiratory distress syndrome, hyaline membrane disease (HMB) and other complications, as from a medical point of view this is a much preferred preventive approach.

The purpose of corticosteroid effective prevention is to reduce complications in prenatal infants and shorten their stay in the neonatal and intensive care units, which in itself is extremely serious socio-economic problem.