Comparison of the efficacy of nifedipine with ritodrine, nitroglycerine and magnesium sulfate for the management of preterm labor: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background

Some studies have compared the efficacy of nifedipine with that of other tocolytic drugs in the treatment of preterm labor, but the reported results are conflicting.

Objective

To compare the efficacy of nifedipine with that of ritodrine, nitroglycerine and magnesium sulfate for the management of preterm labor.

Methods

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched until April 3,2024 using predefined keywords. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and clinical trials that compared the efficacy of nifedipine with that of ritodrine, nitroglycerine and magnesium sulfate for the management of preterm labor were included. Two authors independently reviewed the articles, assessed their quality and extracted the data. The quality of the included RCTs based on the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 1 for clinical trial studies. The risk difference (RD) with the associated 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated. A forest plot diagram was used to show the comparative point estimates of nifedipine and other tocolytic drugs on the prevention of preterm labor and their associated 95% confidence intervals based on the duration of pregnancy prolongation. Study heterogeneity was evaluated by the I₂ index, and publication bias was evaluated by Egger’s test.

Results

Forty studies enrolling 4336 women were included. According to our meta-analysis, there was a significant difference in the prolongation of preterm labor within the first 48 h between the nifedipine group and the nitroglycerine group (RD, -0.04; 95% CI, -0.08 to -0.00; I²: 32.3%). Additionally, there were significant differences between nifedipine and ritodrine (RD, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.21; I², 51.2%) for more than one week RD, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.19; I², 33.2%) and for 34 weeks and more. The difference between nifedipine and magnesium sulfate was not significant in any of the four time points.

Conclusions

Considering the superiority of nifedipine over ritodrine and nitroglycerine and its similar efficacy to magnesium sulfate for tocolysis, it seems that the side effects of these options determine the first drug line.