Yim CL, et al. - Researchers ascertained the relationship between antenatal steroid and risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) by a systematic review and meta-analysis. As per the findings, an association of antenatal steroid administration with a reduced risk of ROP development and progression to severe ROP was noted. The indications of administrating the antenatal steroid therapy to high-risk mothers giving preterm births were strengthened in the results, especially in low-income and middle-income countries where the use of antenatal steroid was not widely practiced.

Methods

• Experts identified the reported studies on the relationship between antenatal steroid and risk of ROP or severe ROP from MEDLINE and Embase databases from their inception to November 2016.
• ORs with 95% Cis were the outcome measures.
• They pooled the extracted data using a random-effect model or fixed-effect model where appropriate.
• Researchers evaluated the heterogeneity, and performed sensitivity analysis.

Results

• Findings suggested that a total of 434 relevant studies were identified, and for the meta-analysis, 28 studies were eligible, involving 20,731 neonates with 4,202 cases of ROP.
• Results demonstrated that out of the 28 studies included, data evaluating the relationship between antenatal steroid use and severe ROP were provided by 13 studies, involving 4,999 neonates with 792 cases of severe ROP.
• They noted an association of antenatal steroid administration with a reduced risk of ROP development (OR_unadjusted=0.82, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.98; OR_adjusted=0.67, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.94) and progression to severe ROP (ORun_adjusted=0.58, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.86).