Neonatal effects of the administration of meperidine and promethazine to the mother in labor. Double blind study

The use of meperidine in obstetrical analgesia and its limits have been studied above all in connection with the most common neonatal data [l, 7, 14, 19]. ESCARDO DE CORIAT'S researches in 1966 pointed out for the first time an impairment of responsiveness to Stimuli in babies born to mothers premedicated with analgetics in labor, particularly with meperidine. A deeper evaluation of these aspects of the neonatal Status was made by BRAZELTON who, using his own neurobehavioral scale, described similar observations in 1973 [5] and confirmed them in 1977 [6]. BORGSTEDT [3] came to the same conclusions using the techniques of BRECHTL-BEINTEMA at 36 and 72 hours from birth. BRACKBILL [4] demonstrated that only some behavioral parameters of the infants were altered at birth in newborns exposed to meperidine (interest in voice, defence, consolability and so on). When new experiments were made with different neurobehavioral and attitudinal tests (SCANLON test) and different Stimuli [8, 15, 17], remarkable differences were always noticed between groups of babies exposed to meperidine and not exposed ones. After the result of the previous researches we thought it useful to verify the effects of the association of meperidine and promethazine on the Curriculum vitae