Latest findings on labetalol in severe hypertension during pregnancy and in postpartum - a systematic review

Hypertension during pregnancy is a significant problem, with severe hypertension being an especially dangerous condition. As pharmacological treatment options are limited mostly due to the unknown effects of multiple drugs on the fetus, labetalol is one of the more frequently used therapies. The other popular substances are methyldopa, nifedipine and hydralazine. In this paper, the effectiveness and limitations of labetalol in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are discussed based on the latest available original papers. As the accessible data implicates, labetalol has a high and proven ability to reduce blood pressure with non-severe side effects. The most common of which are headaches and nausea. The drug seems to be slightly less effective in blood pressure normalization than nifedipine, with inconclusive data about safety to the mother and her baby. However due to a small number of patients included in the presented studies, more high-population trials are necessary to give an unambiguous recommendation on its regular usage.