Beta-blockers appear to be no more effective and probably equally as safe .
It is unusual for women to change drugs due to side effects .
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Improvement in control of maternal blood pressure with use of beta-blockers would be worthwhile only if it were reflected in substantive benefits for mother and /or baby , and none have been clearly demonstrated .
Large r and omised trials are needed to determine whether antihypertensive therapy in general ( rather than beta-blocker therapy specifically ) results in greater benefit than risk , for treatment of mild-moderate pregnancy hypertension .
BACKGROUND Antihypertensives , such as beta-blockers , are used for pregnancy hypertension in the belief these will improve outcome for mother and baby .
OBJECTIVES To assess whether oral beta-blockers are better than placebo , or no beta-blocker , and have advantages over other antihypertensives , for women with mild to moderate pregnancy hypertension .
Comparison of outcome of labetalol or hydralazine therapy during hypertension in pregnancy in very low birth weight infants
Ninety‐seven women with moderate to severe preeclampsia ( PE ) were allocated at r and om to labetalol or hydralazine treatment . Of these , 22 women with severe PE gave birth to neonates with VLBW ( very low birth weight ≥ 1500 g ) . Seven were allocated to labetalol treatment ( Group A ) , eight to hydralazine treatment ( Group B ) and seven women received both drugs due to poor blood pressure control with a single drug therapy ( Group C ) . No difference in cesarean section rate or in the indication for operative delivery could be seen . Gestational age was 29.9 weeks ( 25.4–32.5 ) in Group A. 28.6 weeks ( 26.6–33.4 ) in Group B and 27.3 weeks ( 26.7–31.1 ) in Group C  (  median and range ) . Birth weight did not differ between groups and 13 of the 22 infants weighed below 1000 g. There was a tendency to lower Apgar scores at five minutes in the hydralazine group . Time spent in the neonatal intensive care unit did not differ between groups . Five of the 11 neonates with gestational age (GA)≥28 weeks and three of the seven neonates in GA 29–30 weeks died . Neither the number of infants requiring intermittent positive pressure ventilation or duration of O2‐treatment , nor number of infants with respiratory distress syndrome differed between groups . We did not find any difference in the outcome of the VLBW infants when the hypertensive mother had been treated with either hydralazine or labetalol
Beta-blockers appear to be no more effective and probably equally as safe .
It is unusual for women to change drugs due to side effects .
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Improvement in control of maternal blood pressure with use of beta-blockers would be worthwhile only if it were reflected in substantive benefits for mother and /or baby , and none have been clearly demonstrated .
Large r and omised trials are needed to determine whether antihypertensive therapy in general ( rather than beta-blocker therapy specifically ) results in greater benefit than risk , for treatment of mild-moderate pregnancy hypertension .
BACKGROUND Antihypertensives , such as beta-blockers , are used for pregnancy hypertension in the belief these will improve outcome for mother and baby .
OBJECTIVES To assess whether oral beta-blockers are better than placebo , or no beta-blocker , and have advantages over other antihypertensives , for women with mild to moderate pregnancy hypertension .