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 .
Flow velocity analysis of umbilical and uterine artery flow in pre-eclampsia treated with propranolol or pindolol.
In a double blind study , 20 gravidas with pre-eclampsia were r and omly allocated to treatment with either propranolol 120 mg/day or pindolol 15 mg/day for 7 days . Flow velocimetry was performed before and after treatment to assess the influence of these two regimens of beta blocker on the feto-placental circulation . A continuous wave Doppler unit was used to measure umbilical and uterine artery flow velocity waveforms . The systolic/diastolic ( A/B ) ratio and the systolic minus diastolic divided by systolic (A-B)/A ratio ( resistance index ) were used as indexes of blood flow resistance in the umbilical and uterine arteries , respectively . A resistance to flow in the uteroplacental circulation was significantly less in patients treated with pindolol compared to those treated with propranolol ( P less than 0.01 ) . The same pattern was also found in umbilical velocimetry , although the statistical significance was borderline ( P = 0.06 ) . Although both drugs were equally effective in reducing blood pressure at rest , their effect on the peripheral resistance was different . Pindolol appears to act in part through a peripheral vascular mechanism . Our data support this assumption because the flow in the uteroplacental bed , as reflected by a decrease in resistance index , improved when patients were treated with the drug pindolol
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 .