Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-11-2018
Abstract
Context
Antenatal corticosteroids commonly are administered to pregnant women at risk of delivering between 23 and 34 gestational weeks, providing crucial benefits to fetal lung maturation and reducing risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Corticosteroids are maximally efficacious for lung maturation when administered within 2 to 7 days of delivery. Accurately identifying the timing of preterm delivery is thus critical to ensure that antenatal corticosteroids are administered within a week of delivery and to avoid unnecessary administration to women who will deliver at term. A plausible biomarker for predicting time of delivery is placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH). Objective
The current study assesses whether pCRH concentrations predict time to delivery, and specifically which women will deliver within a week of treatment. Design
pCRH concentrations were evaluated prior to administration of the corticosteroid betamethasone and timing of delivery was recorded. Participants
121 women with singleton pregnancies who were prescribed betamethasone. Results
Elevated pCRH concentrations were associated with a shorter time from treatment to delivery. ROC curves revealed that pCRH may improve the precision of predicting preterm delivery. Conclusions
In the current sample, pCRH concentrations predicted the likelihood of delivering within one week of corticosteroid treatment. Current findings suggest that pCRH may be a diagnostic indicator of impending preterm delivery. Increasing the precision in predicting time to delivery could inform when to administer antenatal corticosteroids, thus maximizing benefits and reducing the likelihood of exposing fetuses who will be delivered at term.
Recommended Citation
Swales, D. A., Grande, L. A., Wing, D. A., et al. (2018). Can placental corticotropin-releasing hormone inform timing of antenatal corticosteroid administration? The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. doi: 10.1210/jc.2018-00956
Copyright
Endocrine Society
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version
Swales, D. A., Grande, L. A., Wing, D. A., et al. (2018). Can placental corticotropin-releasing hormone inform timing of antenatal corticosteroid administration? The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. doi: 10.1210/jc.2018-00956
is available online at DOI: 10.1210/jc.2018-00956