Impact of prenatal corticosteroid therapy on sickle cell disease in pregnant women

The study assessed the safety of prenatal corticosteroid use in pregnancies of women with sickle cell disease. It compared pregnancies with and without prenatal corticosteroids, focusing on vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) that required hospital care. Results showed that while VOC occurrence rates were not significantly different between the two groups, pregnancies exposed to corticosteroids experienced more severe VOC, with higher rates of intensive care hospitalizations, emergency transfusions, and acute chest syndromes. These findings persisted even after adjusting for disease severity. The study suggests that prenatal corticosteroids should be avoided in women with sickle cell disease due to the increased severity of VOC.