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Cochrane on Oral Diabetes Med Use in Pregnancy
Cochrane; 2017 Oct 18; Tieu, Coat, Hague, et al
Metformin might lead to fewer cases of pregnancy-induced hypertension, cesarean section birth, and neonatal hypoglycemia than occur with insulin, according to a Cochrane review of 6 trials involving 707 women. Among the findings:
- There was no clear difference in the development of pre-eclampsia for women who received metformin (very low-quality evidence).
- Women receiving metformin were less likely to have pregnancy-induced high blood pressure (low-quality evidence).
- They were also less likely to have a cesarean section birth (low-quality evidence).
- No difference was seen in induction of labor (very low-quality evidence).
- There was no clear difference between groups of infants being large-for-gestational age (very low-quality evidence).
- Mothers who received metformin were less likely to have hypoglycemia (very low-quality evidence).
- There were no infant deaths before or shortly after birth (very low-quality evidence).
Citation:
Tieu J, Coat S, Hague W, Middleton P, Shepherd E. Oral anti-diabetic agents for women with established diabetes/impaired glucose tolerance or previous gestational diabetes planning pregnancy, or pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes. Cochrane Database of Syst Rev. 2017, Issue 10. Art. No.: CD007724. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007724.pub3.