Objective: To evaluate antenatal corticosteroids (ANS) use in pregnant women with hypertension.
Study design: Retrospective analysis of ANS use in the Perinatal Quality Collaborative of North Carolina between 2015 and 2017.
Results: Twenty-five centers participated, with 9% (1580/17,692) of mothers delivering at <34 weeks; of these, 81% (1286/1580) received a full course of ANS, which was not different between phases (p = 0.32), or between Level III/IV neonatal intensive care units (NICUs; 82%), and I/II NICUs (76%) (p = 0.05). In Level III/IV NICUs, White mothers were more likely to receive ANS (87%) than African Americans (77%) or other race/ethnicity (80%) (including Hispanics) (p = 0.001). ANS use did not differ among mothers with different payers (p = 0.94).
Conclusion: The rates of full ANS courses did not significantly increase from 2015-2017 and disparities persisted. Targeted efforts to improve ANS exposures among hypertensive African American and Hispanic mothers, as well as in community hospital settings are needed.