Antenatal Corticosteroids in Elective Term Cesarean Swction

Background: Antenatal corticosteroid is a best documented treatment for enhancing fetal lung maturity before 34 weeks however, there is no enough evidence for its use after 34 weeks.Objective: To assess the effect of prophylactic corticosteroid administration before elective caesarean section at term (after completed 37 weeks), in reducing neonatal respiratory morbidity.Patients and Method: This is a double-blinded randomized controlled trial during the period from February 2018 till August 2020 to assess the role of prophylactic dexamethasone administration given in dose of 6mg, 4 doses 12 hours apart 48 hours before elective caesarean section at term. 500 women were included in this study. Participants were randomly divided into two groups; Group I (250 women) who received prophylactic dexamethasone and group II (250 women) who received a placebo.Results: NICU admission was significantly lower in Group I compared to placebo [8 (3.2%) vs. 17 (6.8%), respectively] (P= 0.049). Also, group I had better APGAR score than group II at 1 and 5min, (p<0.001). There were no significant differences between both groups regarding maternal and other adverse neonatal events.Conclusion: Antenatal corticosteroids may be effective in reducing respiratory complications in neonates delivered by elective caesarean section at term.