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Published on: August 25, 2014
School-Age Outcomes of Antenatal Magnesium Sulphate in Preterm Infants
Akira Kobayashi1, Masato Ito2, Erika Ota3,4
1General Center for Perinatal, Maternal and Neonatal Medicine, Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital, Niigata 951-8520, Japan.
Background:
Antenatal magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) therapy given to women at risk of preterm birth reduced the risk of cerebral palsy in early childhood. However, its effect on longer-term neurological outcomes remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess the effects of antenatal MgSO4 therapy on school-age outcomes of preterm infants.
Methods:
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and CINAHL for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Two reviewers independently evaluated the eligibility for inclusion and extracted data.
Results:
Ten RCTs were included. Only two of them were on school-age outcomes. Antenatal MgSO4 therapy had no impact on cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, neurosensory disability, and death at school-age. Meta-analysis on mental retardation and visual impairment was not able to be performed due to different methods of evaluation. In the analysis of short-term outcomes conducted as secondary outcomes, antenatal MgSO4 therapy increased the risk of maternal adverse events with any symptom (3 RCTs; risk ratio 2.79; 95% confidence interval 1.10 to 7.05, low certainty of evidence) but was not associated with any neonatal symptoms.
Conclusions:
The number of cases was insufficient to determine the impact of antenatal MgSO4 therapy on school-age outcomes. Further accumulation of long-term data is required.
