Terbutaline versus nifedipine for prolongation of pregnancy in patients with preterm labor.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the effectiveness, safety, and possible adverse effects of terbutaline and nifedipine in prolonging pregnancy beyond 48 h.


METHODS
A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 174 pregnant women admitted with preterm labor randomized into 2 groups, which were given terbutaline (95 patients) and nifedipine (79 patients), respectively. Bivariate and multivariate analyses, using logistic regression, were used to analyze the data.


RESULTS
No statistically significant difference was found between the 2 groups in terms of prolongation of gestation to 48 h. The failure rate in terms of prolonging gestation for 24 h was found to be 12.6% for the terbutaline group and 10.1% for the nifedipine group, which was not found to be statistically significant (P value=0.61). Side effects were significantly more common in the terbutaline group, except for maternal hypotension.


CONCLUSIONS
Terbutaline and nifedipine appear to be equally effective in their tocolytic action. However, nifedipine did have the advantage of ease of administration. It also had significantly less effect on the fetal heart rate.
Mawaldi
L
L
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, King AbdulAziz Medical City, King Fahad National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. mawaldil@ngha.med.sa
Duminy
P
P
Tamim
H
H
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D009543:Nifedipine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013726:Terbutaline / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015149:Tocolytic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D015149:Tocolytic Agents; D009543:Nifedipine; D013726:Terbutaline