Inpharma 1311 - 27 Oct 2001

Early antihypertensive therapy inpregnant women with hypertension

Early intervention with antihypertensive therapy inpregnant women with hypertension is associated with alow incidence of severe maternal hypertension andpreterm delivery, say US-based researchers. Theyrestrospectively studied outcome data from 235pregnancies identified as being at risk for developmentof pre-eclampsia. Patients were treated with atenolol25–100mg with additional furosemide and/orhydralazine if indicated.

Severe pre-eclampsia developed in 1 patient. Only2.1% of women delivered before 32 weeks and 4.7%delivered before 34 weeks. Multivariate regressionanalysis showed that low birthweight was significantlycorrelated with a prior pregnancy with intrauterinegrowth restriction (0.34; 95% CI 0.13–0.54), treatmentinconsistency (–0.54; 95% CI –0.78 to –0.30) and earlieryear of delivery (0.06; 95% CI 0.03–0.09). Meanpercentile birthweight increased significantly from the20th percentile in the first year of the programme to the40th percentile in the last year.Easterling TR, et al. Treatment of hypertension in pregnancy: effect of atenolol onmaternal disease, preterm delivery, and fetal growth. Obstetrics and Gynecology98: 427-433, Sep 2001 800878612

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Inpharma 27 Oct 2001 No. 13111173-8324/10/1311-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved