Trial of the Use of Antenatal Corticosteroids in Developing Countries
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Preterm Birth
- Sponsor
- NICHD Global Network for Women's and Children's Health
- Enrollment
- 103117
- Locations
- 7
- Primary Endpoint
- Neonatal Mortality Rate at 28 Days in <5th Percentile Birth Weight Infants (as a Proxy Measure for Prematurity)
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- last year
Overview
Brief Summary
Multi-country two-arm, parallel cluster randomized controlled trial to reduce neonatal mortality through increasing the rate of antenatal corticosteroid administration to eligible women.
Detailed Description
One of the United Nations Millennium Summit goals is to reduce the deaths of children \<5 years by two-thirds for 2015 (UN, 2000). Given that 38% of all under-five deaths worldwide occur in the first four weeks of life, the goal seems unattainable unless a significant fraction of the neonatal deaths are prevented (Darmstadt et al., 2005). Thus, the provision of health care during the perinatal period in developing countries is a top priority. Preterm birth is a major cause of neonatal mortality, currently responsible for 28% of the deaths overall. As the contribution of preterm birth to neonatal deaths is well above 50% (MacDorman et al., 2005) in middle and high income countries, it is expected that as low income countries improve their development, the relative importance of this cause will increase. One of the most powerful perinatal interventions to reduce neonatal mortality is the administration of antenatal corticosteroids to pregnant women at high risk of preterm birth. The primary objective will be to evaluate whether a cluster-level multifaceted intervention, including components to improve the identification of pregnancies at high risk of preterm birth and providing and facilitating the appropriate use of steroids, reduces neonatal mortality at 28 days of life in preterm newborns, compared with the standard delivery of care in selected populations of six African, Asian, and Latin American countries.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Exclusion Criteria
- •There will not be any specific exclusion criteria for clusters or participants.
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Neonatal Mortality Rate at 28 Days in <5th Percentile Birth Weight Infants (as a Proxy Measure for Prematurity)
Time Frame: Birth to 28 days
Neonatal deaths before 28 days per 1,000 live births among \<5th %tile birth weight infants. The \<5th %tile birth weight group was a proxy for preterm. Site-specific cutoffs from pretrial data were 2,450g-Argentina, 2,400g-Zambia, 2,267g-Guatemala, 2,000g-Belgaum, India, 2,150g-Pakistan, 2,000g-Nagpur, India, and 2,500g-Kenya. Infants were classified as \<5th %tile on the basis of measured birth weights. Estimated weights by clinical assessment were used when measured weights were unavailable; those missing weights were classified as \<5th %tile (since based on historical data, most of the missing data were for preterm infants). We used birth weight rather than gestational age (GA) for the primary analysis subgroup because many women in the registry had missing or uncertain GA, ultrasound was often unavailable, and the intervention was designed to improve estimation of GA, which could potentially bias GA-based analyses. All live births, including multiple births, are included.
Secondary Outcomes
- Use of Antenatal Corticosteroids in Women at Risk of Preterm Birth in All the Study Clusters(48 hours after identification of risk for preterm birth)
- Suspected Maternal Infection(Pregnancy through 6 weeks postpartum)
- Maternal Mortality Rate(Pregnancy through 42 days postpartum)
- Neonatal Mortality Rate(Birth to 28 days)
- Stillbirth Mortality Rate(20 weeks' gestational age to birth)