ReviewBMJ global health2017
Antenatal corticosteroids for women at risk of imminent preterm birth in low-resource countries: the case for equipoise and the need for efficacy trials.
Review in BMJ global health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Strategies for optimising antenatal corticosteroid administration for women with anticipated preterm birth.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Antenatal Dexamethasone for Early Preterm Birth in Low-Resource Countries.The New England journal of medicine · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Stage-, dose- and course-dependent disruption of mice fetal ovarian development following prenatal dexamethasone exposure.Journal of ovarian research · 2026Article
- Antenatal corticosteroids for pregnant women at risk of preterm labour in low- and middle-income countries: utilisation and facility readiness.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Article
- Association of antenatal dexamethasone administration timing with outcomes in preterm infants in a low- and middle-income country.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Multi-organ developmental toxicity and its characteristics in fetal mice induced by dexamethasone at different doses, stages, and courses during pregnancy.Archives of toxicology · 2024Article
- Effect of antenatal corticosteroid administration-to-birth interval on maternal and newborn outcomes: a systematic review.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
- Antenatal corticosteroids for early preterm birth: implementation strategy lessons from the WHO ACTION-I trial.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Effect of dexamethasone on newborn survival at different administration-to-birth intervals: A secondary analysis of the WHO ACTION (Antenatal CorticosTeroids for Improving Outcomes in Preterm Newborn)-I trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- Cost-effectiveness of antenatal corticosteroids and tocolytic agents in the management of preterm birth: A systematic review.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- Antenatal dexamethasone for late preterm birth: A multi-centre, two-arm, parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- Readiness to Provide Antenatal Corticosteroids for Threatened Preterm Birth in Public Health Facilities in Northern India.Global health, science and practice · 2021Article
- Estimating fetal exposure to the P-gp substrates, corticosteroids, by PBPK modeling to inform prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.CPT: pharmacometrics & systems pharmacology · 2021Article
- Reducing neonatal mortality and respiratory distress syndrome associated with preterm birth: a scoping review on the impact of antenatal corticosteroids in low- and middle-income countries.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2021Article
- Article
- Perinatal outcomes from preterm and early term births in a multicenter cohort of low risk nulliparous women.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- The TRANSFER Approach for assessing the transferability of systematic review findings.BMC medical research methodology · 2020Article
- An evaluation of the benefits and harms of antenatal corticosteroid treatment for women at risk of imminent preterm birth or prior to elective Caesarean-section: Study protocol for an individual participant data meta-analysis.Wellcome open research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
29 authors at 17 institutions in 11 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The scientific basis for antenatal corticosteroids (ACS) for women at risk of preterm birth has rapidly changed in recent years. Two landmark trials-the Antenatal Corticosteroid Trial and the Antenatal Late Preterm Steroids Trial-have challenged the long-held assumptions on the comparative health benefits and harms regarding the use of ACS for preterm birth across all levels of care and contexts, including resource-limited settings. Researchers, clinicians, programme managers, policymakers and donors working in low-income and middle-income countries now face challenging questions of whether, where and how ACS can be used to optimise outcomes for both women and preterm newborns. In this article, we briefly present an appraisal of the current evidence around ACS, how these findings informed WHO's current recommendations on ACS use, and the knowledge gaps that have emerged in the light of new trial evidence. Critical considerations in the generalisability of the available evidence demonstrate that a true state of clinical equipoise exists for this treatment option in low-resource settings. An expert group convened by WHO concluded that there is a clear need for more efficacy trials of ACS in these settings to inform clinical practice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.