RHL Commentary by Olalekan Adetoro
EVIDENCE SUMMARY
This Cochrane Review includes twenty trials in which the antihypertensive effect of different drugs was compared. Overall, the review found no evidence of any one of the drugs compared being better the rest in treating severe hypertension in pregnant women with the of exception ketanserin: women receiving ketanserin were more likely to have consistent hypertension compared to those receiving hydralazine. In addition, diazoxide was found to cause severe hypotension.
Only adequately controlled, randomized trials were reviewed. Most of the trials did not have adequate blinding for allocation and treatment, and this diminishes the robustness of the results.
The full RHL commentary also includes sections on: Relevance
- Magnitude of the problem
- Feasibility of the intervention
- Applicability of the results of the Cochrane Review
- Implementation of the intervention
- Research
References
This document should be cited as: Olalekan Adetoro. Drugs for rapid treatment of very high blood pressure in pregnancy: RHL commentary (last revised: 15 November 2002). The WHO Reproductive Health Library, No 9, Update Software Ltd, Oxford, 2006. www.rhlibrary.com
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