Impact of Tab. Labetalol and Tab. Nifedipine in the management of mild preeclampsia: A comparative study

Background: Hypertensive disorders are attributed to 16% maternal deaths in developed countries and 15%-18% in India. Preeclampsia is multisystem disorder of mid pregnancy associated with elevated proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. The most commonly used antihypertensive drugs during pregnancy are nifedipine, labetalol and methyldopa. This study was designed to assess the efficacy of 100mg Tab. Labetalol and 10mg Tab. Nifedipine in the management of hypertension in mild preeclampsia.Materials and Methods: A total 120 antenatal women clinically diagnosed with mild preeclampsia were recruited. In group 1, 100mg Tab. Labetalol was medicated and drug dosage was increased by 100mg for every 6 hours until adequate control was achieved. In group 2, 10mg Tab. Nifedipine was medicated and 10mg of drug dosage was increased for every 6 hours until to reach adequate control. Blood pressure was monitered for every 2 hours, along with feto-maternal status.Results: Both groups had adequate control of blood pressure after receiving required amount of drug. In Nifedipine group, headache (8.3%), palpitations (5%) and giddiness (1.66%) are the common drug related side effects, whereas in labetalol no side effects have been noticed. Full term foetal outcome was seen in 81.67% cases of group 1 and 733% cases of group 2. Majority child having birth weight more than 2.5kg (76.67% in group 1 & 70% in group 2) in both study groupsConclusion: Labetalol group had no side effects, with sufficient dose it had adequate control on BP and had good neonatal outcome. Whereas, Nefidipine is also effective, but has minimal side effects, but it is easy available and effective drug for mild preeclampsia.