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 hypotensive treatment. I. Perinatal factors and neonatal morbidity.
In a prospect i ve study , women who were hypertensive before the 28th wk of gestation were r and omly allocated into two groups : those who received specific hypotensive therapy ( Ht )  and those who did not ( Hu ) . The outcome was compared with a r and om sample of the hospital population ( S ) ascertained after delivery . In both hypertensive groups there was a higher incidence of clinical signs of possible fetal distress and instrumental delivery . Although there was no difference between the groups in the distribution of birthweight above and below the mean for gestational age , the treated hypertensive group had an excess of infants with relatively smaller head circumferences for their gestational age compared with both the untreated hypertensive group and the hospital sample . Tube-feeding was also more frequent in the treated hypertensive group . In the untreated hypertensive group there were more infants whose neurological status was categorized as question able or abnormal in the neonatal period , compared with the sample . The different problems encountered by infants in the two hypertensive groups emphasized the need for further study of these babies . Their development during the first year of life will be examined in a subsequent paper
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 .