In her doctoral thesis, Karin Rademaker writes that for preterm babies, the drug hydrocortisone can be used safely and effectively for lung maturation.
She compared the health and school performance of 62 children who had been treated with hydrocortisone with 162 healthy children who had not received this treatment. There was no difference in the two groups in neurocognitive performance, motor function, or brain size (such as the volume of white and gray matter).
Around the world, the stronger drug dexamethasone is used to treat preterm babies rather than hydrocortisone, but dexamethasone is known to have a detrimental effect on child development.
Karin Rademaker "Brain imaging and neurodevelopmental outcome at school age in preterm-born infants: Effects of neonatal hydrocortisone treatment"