Abstract

The Auckland Steroid Study by the obstetrician Professor Sir Graham ‘Mont’ Liggins and paediatrician Associate Professor Ross Howie was conducted at National Women’s Hospital between 1969 to 1974. The Auckland Steroid Study randomised 1,115 women with 1,142 pregnancies, and their 1,218 unborn infants, to two doses of betamethasone or placebo, 24 hours apart. The study significantly reduced the incidence of respiratory distress and neonatal deaths in the infants. Subsequently, this simple intervention has gone on to be recommended as one of 16 interventions aimed at reducing global neonatal mortality, and is estimated to avert 1.3 million disability-adjusted life years per year if given in 50% of cases of preterm labour. Stuart will discuss the historical significance of this landmark trial, the translation of evidence from the carpark of National Women’s Hospital to the study becoming an exemplar of the importance of undertaking meta-analysis, and the 30-year and 50-year follow-up studies of this important

cohort. 

Biography 

Professor Stuart Dalziel, MBChB FRACP PhD.

Professor Stuart Dalziel is the Cure Kids Chair of Child Health Research at the University of Auckland, where he is also a Professor of Paediatrics and Emergency Medicine. Clinically he works as a Paediatric Emergency Medicine Physician in the Children’s Emergency Department at Starship Children’s Hospital, where he is also the Director of Emergency Medicine Research.

Stuart’s research is strongly aligned to his everyday clinical practice as a Paediatric Emergency Medicine Physician. It focuses on both medical emergencies, such as status epilepticus, and common paediatric conditions, such as asthma, bronchiolitis, and the use of paracetamol and ibuprofen. Stuart has undertaken the largest randomised controlled trial of children in New Zealand and has been extensively involved in the long-term follow-up of paediatric treatments. Stuart has received over $NZ75 million in research support and has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers.  

Abstract