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Hope for pregnant mothers study
Tamar Kahn
2002-06-13

Researchers at the University of Natal concluded a three-year study that shows that a cheap and widely available drug can reduce the risk of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure by about 60%. This condition, or pre-eclampsia, can cause convulsions that threaten the lives of both the mother and child. In SA, it is the most common cause of deaths during pregnancy. Now researchers at the university's Medical Research Council's Pregnancy Hypertension Unit, working in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have shown that injections of magnesium sulphate dramatically reduce the risk of the condition. The unit's director, Prof Jack Moodley, believes the treatment could save countless lives across the world if it was introduced routinely for pregnant women with pre-eclampsia. He explained that it costs about R5 per course, which makes it especially suitable for use in Africa. The study, published last week in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, included more than 10 000 women with pre-eclampsia in 175 hospitals and 33 countries. The randomised trial included 41 000 women from SA. In addition to normal medical care, half the women in the trial randomly received an injection of magnesium sulphate, an anti-convulsant drug. The other half was allocated only placebo treatment. The scientists found that women provided with magnesium sulphate had 58% lower risk of eclampsia than women given a placebo. A quarter of the women reported minor side effects but there was no evidence of harmful effects to either the mother or baby. Moodley said the study provided the first clear-cut evidence that magnesium sulphate was effective. (Source: Business Day, 13 June 2002)

Researchers at the University of Natal concluded a three-year study that shows that a cheap and widely available drug can reduce the risk of
pregnancy-induced high blood pressure by about 60%.

This condition, or pre-eclampsia, can cause convulsions that threaten the lives of both the mother and child.

In SA, it is the most common cause of deaths during pregnancy.

Now researchers at the university's Medical Research Council's Pregnancy Hypertension Unit, working in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have shown that injections of magnesium sulphate dramatically reduce the risk of the condition.

The unit's director, Prof Jack Moodley, believes the treatment could save countless lives across the world if it was introduced routinely for pregnant women with pre-eclampsia.

He explained that it costs about R5 per course, which makes it especially suitable for use in Africa.

The study, published last week in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, included more than 10 000 women with pre-eclampsia in 175
hospitals and 33 countries.

The randomised trial included 41 000 women from SA.

In addition to normal medical care, half the women in the trial randomly received an injection of magnesium sulphate, an anti-convulsant drug. The other half was allocated only placebo treatment.

The scientists found that women provided with magnesium sulphate had 58% lower risk of eclampsia than women given a placebo.

A quarter of the women reported minor side effects but there was no evidence of harmful effects to either the mother or baby.

Moodley said the study provided the first clear-cut evidence that magnesium sulphate was effective. (Source: Business Day, 13 June 2002)

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