title: Systematic review of the effects of maternal hypertension in pregnancy and antihypertensive therapies on child neurocognitive development.
abstract: As many as 15% of women experience hypertension during pregnancy. Large proportions of them are receiving antihypertensive medications. This review investigated whether hypertension itself, or the antihypertensive medications, adversely affect long term child neurocognitive development. The existing evidence suggests that methyldopa and labetalol probably do not adversely affect neurobehavioral development. Although an increasing body of evidence suggests adverse neurocognitive effects of the hypertension itself, none of the existing studies examined simultaneously the effects of both hypertension and the drugs used therapeutically. The confounding effects by indication must be addressed in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Motherisk Program, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, 555 Univeristy Ave, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada. gkoren@sickkids.ca
authors.forename: Gideon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koren
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000187:drug effects; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents