REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS It remains unclear whether antihypertensive drug therapy for mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is worthwhile
BACKGROUND Mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is common .
Antihypertensive drugs are often used in the belief that lowering blood pressure will prevent progression to more severe disease , and thereby improve outcome .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of antihypertensive drug treatments for women with mild to moderate hypertension during pregnancy .
HYPERTENSION DURING PREGNANCY WITH AND WITHOUT SPECIFIC TREATMENT; THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILDREN AT THE AGE OF FOUR YEARS
In a controlled trial pregnant women who were hypertensive before the 28th week of gestation were r and omly allocated to treatment with methyldopa or no anti‐hypertensive treatment . The children from these pregnancies have been re‐examined at four years of age and their development compared with a r and om sample from the same maternity hospital population . Their health , height , weight , and the incidence of sight , hearing and speech problems did not differ . None had gross neurological abnormalities . Boys in the treated hypertensive group had significantly smaller heads than in the other two groups , but there was no correlation between head circumference and developmental score in this group ( r = 0.020 ) . On average the children in the r and om sample were the most advanced when assessed a global score of development . In each developmental sector the mean score for the treated hypertensive group was consistently higher than the untreated hypertensive group . We conclude that maternal hypertension is associated with slight developmental delay in early childhood . There are some indications that treatment with methyldopa may reduce this effect
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS It remains unclear whether antihypertensive drug therapy for mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is worthwhile
BACKGROUND Mild-moderate hypertension during pregnancy is common .
Antihypertensive drugs are often used in the belief that lowering blood pressure will prevent progression to more severe disease , and thereby improve outcome .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of antihypertensive drug treatments for women with mild to moderate hypertension during pregnancy .