Razia Korejo, Ayesha Nasir, Sadia Waseem, Shereen Z Bhutta.
Comparison of salbutamol and nifedipine in the treatment of preterm Labor.
J Surg Pak Jan ;12(3):88-92.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy and safety of beta-agonist-salbutamol and calcium channel blocker - nifedipine in inhibiting uterine contractions and to compare the maternal side effects and neonatal outcome of the two drugs. Study design: Quasi experimental. Place & Duration of study: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ward-8, Unit-I, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from October 2005 to September 2006. Patients and Methods: Patients admitted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Unit - I of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi with the diagnosis of preterm labour and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected. These patients were divided into two groups. Group-A received salbutamol (beta agonist) treatment and group-B nifedipine (calcium channel blocker). Salbutamol was given intravenously at the start and then maintained with 4mg oral dose. Nifedipine was given as 20mg oral tablets. Results: A total 100 patients were divided into two groups of 50 each. Mean age in group-A was 27.64 + 6.06 years and in group-B 27.84 + 6.16 years. Mean parity in group-A was 2.34 + 1.97 and in group-B 2.58 + 1.99. Mean gestational age in group-A was 31.94 + 2.43 weeks and in group-B 32.34 + 2.68 weeks. In the group A the contractions stopped in 1 hour, in 31 (62%) patients as compared to group B where only 7 (14%) patients were tocolysed in the first hour. Forty percent of patients had no contractions during the 3rd hour of treatment in this group. Three (6%) patients suffered from side effects with nifedipine as compared to 14 (28%) patients with salbutamol. Neonatal outcome and pregnancy prolongation results were similar in both groups. Conclusions: This study shows that the tocolytic effective of prolongation of the pregnancy and the neonatal outcome of the two drugs are the same; however nifedipine is associated with fewer side effects.

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