The Effect of Antenatal Corticosteroid Use on Offspring Cardiovascular
Function: A Systematic Review
Abstract
Background Antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) are recommended in threatened
preterm labour to improve short term neonatal outcome. Preclinical
animal studies suggest detrimental effects of ACS exposure on offspring
cardiac development; their effects in humans are unknown. Objectives To
systematically review the human clinical literature to determine the
effects of ACS on offspring cardiovascular function. Main results
Twenty-six studies including 1921 patients were included, of which most
were cohort studies of mixed quality. The type of ACS exposure,
gestational age at exposure, dose and number of administrations varied
widely. Offspring cardiovascular outcomes were assessed from one day to
36 years postnatally. The most commonly assessed parameter was arterial
blood pressure (18 studies), followed by echocardiography (8 studies),
heart rate (5 studies), electrocardiogram (ECG, 3 studies) and cardiac
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, 1 study). There were no clinically
significant effects of ACS exposure on offspring blood pressure.
However, there were insufficient studies assessing cardiac structure and
function using echocardiography or cardiac MRI to be able to determine
an effect. Conclusions Administration of ACS is not associated with
long-term effects on blood pressure in exposed human offspring. The
effects on cardiac structure and other measures of cardiac function were
unclear due to the small number of studies, study heterogeneity and
mixed quality. Given the emerging preclinical evidence of harm following
ACS exposure, there is a need for further research to assess central
cardiac function in human offspring exposed to ACS. Keywords: Antenatal
corticosteroids, ACS, cardiovascular, offspring, blood pressure