AUTHOR=Graf Joachim , Abele Harald , Pauluschke-Fröhlich Jan 

TITLE=Gestational age at birth in pregnancies with antenatal corticosteroid administration in relation to risk factors: a retrospective cohort study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1285306

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1285306

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>The aim was to investigate gestational age at birth of women after induction of fetal lung maturation (antenatal corticosteroids = ACS) because of imminent preterm birth (PTB), and to quantify incidence of late PTB (gestational age &lt; 260 days) and extreme immaturity (gestational age &lt; 196 days) in relation to several diagnoses (PPROM, placental bleeding, premature labor, preeclampsia, oligohydramnios, amniotic infection syndrome (AIS), cervical insufficiency) and risk factors (age &gt; 35, history of preterm delivery, multifetal gestation, gestational diabetes, hypertension, nicotine abuse).</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>The study was designed as a retrospective cohort trial, in which the data of all births taking place in 2016 in the German federal state Rhineland-Palatinate were evaluated. Frequency analyses, subgroup analysis (Chi-square tests and Friedman’s tests), as well as multinomial logistic regressions and linear regressions were used to determine odds ratios (OR).</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>In total, <italic>N</italic> = 1,544 patients were included who had been hospitalized due to an imminent PTB and had received ACS, of whom 52% had a late PTB and 8% a PTB with extreme immaturity. Regarding the gestational age at birth, there were only minor differences between the individual risk factors and diagnoses, only AIS patients showed a significantly lower gestational age (mean: 207 days). A significantly increased risk of PTB with extreme immaturity was found in patients with AIS (OR = 5.57) or placental bleeding (OR = 2.10).</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>There is a need for further research in order to be able to apply therapeutic measures more accurately in relation to risk factors and diagnoses.</p></sec>