The global network antenatal corticosteroids trial: impact on stillbirth.

GOLDENBERG RL; THORSTEN VR; ALTHABE F; SALEEM S; GARCES A; CARLO WA; PASHA O; CHOMBA E; GOUDAR S; ESAMAI F; KREBS NF; DERMAN RJ; LIECHTY EA; PATEL A; HIBBERD P; BUEKENS P; KOSO-THOMAS M; MIODOVNIK M; JOBE AH; WALLACE D; BELIZÁN JM; MCCLURE EM

Reproductive Health

BIOMED CENTRAL LTD

Año: 2016

1742-4755

BACKGROUND:Antenatal corticosteroids are commonly used to reduce neonatal mortality, but most research to date has been in high-resource settings and few studies have evaluated its impact on stillbirth. In the Antenatal Corticosteroids Trial (ACT), a multi-country trial to assess impact of a multi-faceted intervention including antenatal corticosteroids to reduce neonatal mortality associated with preterm birth, we found an overall increase in 28-day neonatal mortality and stillbirth associated with the intervention.METHODS:The ACT was a cluster-randomized trial conducted in 102 clusters across 7 research sites in 6 countries (India [2 sites], Pakistan, Zambia, Kenya, Guatemala and Argentina), comparing an intervention to train birth attendants at all levels of the health system to identify women at risk of preterm birth, administer corticosteroids and refer women at risk. Because of inadequate gestational age dating, the