CONCLUSION
Antenatal corticosteroids exposure is associated with an increased risk of severe hypoglycaemia in term neonates, particularly where ACS are given prior to planned caesarean birth. An association also remains in neonates exposed much earlier in the pregnancy, but hypoglycaemia becomes less common with increasing time interval to birth. Better identification of pregnancies where preterm birth will occur within 7 days is required. Nearer term, neonatal hypoglycaemia might cause more long term harm than the respiratory morbidity that corticosteroids reduce and better long term data is required before ACS usage after 34 weeks is universally offered.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the women, midwives, neonatal and obstetric colleagues for their help with this study.
DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS The authors declare no conflicts of interest.