Hydralazine was the most common drug for others to be evaluated against .
Diazoxide , given as 75 mg bolus injections , appears to be associated with maternal hypotension requiring treatment , and ketanserin is less effective than hydralazine at reducing blood pressure .
There is no other clear evidence that any one of the other antihypertensive agents is better than another for women with severe hypertension during pregnancy .
Exceptions are diazoxide and ketanserin , which are probably not good choices
BACKGROUND Very high blood pressure during pregnancy poses a serious threat to women and their babies .
The use of drugs to lower blood pressure will reduce this risk for the women , and possibly also for the baby .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to compare different antihypertensive drugs used for treatment of severe hypertension during pregnancy .
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
Hydralazine was the most common drug for others to be evaluated against .
Diazoxide , given as 75 mg bolus injections , appears to be associated with maternal hypotension requiring treatment , and ketanserin is less effective than hydralazine at reducing blood pressure .
There is no other clear evidence that any one of the other antihypertensive agents is better than another for women with severe hypertension during pregnancy .
Exceptions are diazoxide and ketanserin , which are probably not good choices
BACKGROUND Very high blood pressure during pregnancy poses a serious threat to women and their babies .
The use of drugs to lower blood pressure will reduce this risk for the women , and possibly also for the baby .
OBJECTIVES The objective of this review was to compare different antihypertensive drugs used for treatment of severe hypertension during pregnancy .