Abstract

A PROSPECTIVE COHORT COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NIFEDIPINE AND ISOXSUPRINE IN THE TREATMENT OF PRETERM LABOR

Ragunath MP* and Sasmal D

Abstract

Introduction: A prospective cohort study was conducted to compare the efficacy of nifedipine against isoxsuprine in preventing preterm labor and to evaluate maternal side effects and neonatal outcome. Methods: This was a Randomized Prospective cohort comparative Study. 156 eligible preterm labor women with gestational age between 28-36 weeks, who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the study, were randomly assigned to receive either Nifedipine or Isoxsuprine treatment. Results: Successful tocolysis was achieved in 92% of Nifedipine treated group and 84.6% of Isoxsuprine treated group. Delivery of women in Nifedipine group was delayed for 48hr, 7days and equal to or more than 21 days in 72 (92%), 72 (92%), 72 (92%), cases respectively compared with 66(84.8%), 17(21.7%) and 14(17.9%) women in Isoxsuprine group. The observation was significant for 7 days and equal to or more than 21 days except 48hrs which was insignificant. All the side effects were more common in isoxsuprine group compared to nifedipine group. Neonatal outcome was better with nifedipine in comparison to isoxsuprine group. Conclusion: The present study found that nifedipine has better tocolytic efficacy, less side effects and better tolerability as compared to isoxsuprine.

Keywords: Preterm Labor; Nifedipine; Isoxsuprine; Tocolytics.