Longitudinal progression of fetal short-term variation and average acceleration and deceleration capacity after antenatal maternal betamethasone application

Objective: To analyze the effect of maternal betamethasone given for fetal lung maturation on fetal short-term variation (STV) and average acceleration and deceleration capacity (AAC/ADC). Both of these factors are calculated by phase-rectified signal averaging (PRSA) and represent new parameters to assess the fetal autonomic nervous system. Study design: A longitudinal prospective study including 26 pregnant women at risk for preterm delivery was performed. Two injections of 12 mg betamethasone were administered intramuscularly at a 24 h interval for lung maturation. Cardiotocography recordings were performed at defined time intervals: day 0 (before the first injection) and days 1, 2, 4 after the first corticosteroid administration. AAC/ADC and STV were calculated. Results: An increase of all parameters (STV, AAC and ADC) was documented between day 0 and day 1. Between day 1 and day 2, all three indices were significantly reduced (p < 0.05). STV declined by 19.8%, AAC by 10.1% and ADC by 14.8%. A normalization of these values was seen after 96 h. Conclusion: Similar to STV, AAC/ADC shows significant changes after maternal betamethasone administration. The corticosteroid-induced transient decrease of the levels needs to be taken into account in the assessment of the fetal status to avoid misinterpretation of these parameters. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.