Study on Safety and Efficacy of Atosiban and Nifedipine in the Management of Threatened Preterm Labour

Background: Preterm birth is the primary cause of newborn mortality and morbidity globally.The ideal drug of choice should have favourable safety profile for both the mother and foetus.It should also reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality at a reasonable cost.In the recent past Nifedipine was the drug of choice as a tocolytic drug.But now Atosiban is the new drug which seems to have a lot of advantages over Nifedipine.Methods: The present study was undertaken on 150 women admitted to labour room attending the Antenatal OPD in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology S.N.Medical College and Hospital, Agra, India between September 2017 to August 2019.These women were randomly divided into two groups-Atosiban groups and Nifedipine group.Results: Women with Bishop score >7 needed more than 132.75 mg of total Atosiban drug in 6.67% of cases (n=60).About 28% of women among the total participants felt adverse effects.None of the women needed early drug termination due to adverse effects in the Atosiban group; the most common side effect was mild gastrointestinal upset (28%, n=60).About 54% of women needed early drug termination in the Nifedipine group (n=70); the most common adverse effect was hypotension (21.42%, n=70).Atosiban infusion has overall 95% (n=60) undelivered women at the end of 48 hours, 96.49% remain free from contraction for the first 24 hours.Conclusion: Atosiban is better tolerated by women as compared to Nifedipine.Atosiban showed the best safety and maternal profile.It is important to compare oxytocin antagonists and calcium channel blockers directly for tocolytic efficacy and effects on neonatal outcomes.