Examining Antenatal Corticosteroid Administration at a Single Center via a New Proposed Quality Metric [ID: 1375947]

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) proposed a new quality metric in 2022 to increase the rate of antenatal corticosteroid (ACS) provision for early preterm deliveries and minimize ACS for pregnancies ending in term deliveries. This study evaluates compliance with this quality metric and examines which delivery indications are associated with suboptimal ACS timing. METHODS: This is a single-center retrospective cohort of patients receiving ACS from January 2017 to September 2022. The primary outcome, measuring compliance with the SMFM ACS quality metric, is the proportion of all early preterm deliveries that received optimally timed ACS (one dose of ACS within 6 hours–7 days before birth). The secondary outcome is the proportion of term deliveries that had previously received ACS compared to all patients who received ACS. A sample of convenience of 500 patients was investigated to determine the indication for ACS. RESULTS: Of the 36,080 deliveries between 2017 and 2022, 2,022 patients received ACS (initial or rescue) and delivered at this center. There were 3,720 early preterm deliveries. Of early preterm deliveries, 14.67% received ACS in the optimal window. Of all the patients that received ACS, 20.9% delivered at term. ACS were more optimally dosed for hypertension relative risk (RR) 1.71 (95% CI 1.36–2.14) and preterm prelabor rupture of membranes RR 2.08 (95% CI 1.67–2.59). CONCLUSION: Based on the SMFM quality metric, rates of optimal ACS administration remain lower than minimum realistic benchmarks. Continuing efforts are needed to optimize ACS administration for preterm deliveries. In order to meet these goals, institutions may examine which clinical situations lead to suboptimal ACS.