Magnesium Sulfate Cuts Risk Of Cerebral Palsy In Premature Babies

According to a study, giving a cheap and widely available drug to pregnant women at high risk of premature delivery cut the risk of cerebral palsy in their babies by nearly half.

Premature babies are at high risk for cerebral palsy, an often devastating movement disorder caused by brain damage before, during or after birth, says study co-author John Thorp, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. About one-third of cerebral palsy [cerebral palsy treatment] cases are caused by early preterm birth, he says.

Giving magnesium sulfate, or Epsom salt, could save many children from the condition, Thorp says. Doctors regularly use the drug to halt contractions when women go into labor very early. The drug is found in virtually every labor and delivery department and costs just pennies a dose, he says.

In Thorp’s study, presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine annual meeting in Dallas, doctors focused on 2,241 women whose water broke very early — between the 24th and 31st weeks of pregnancy. A full-term delivery occurs after at least 37 weeks.

Doctors randomly assigned some women to get intravenous magnesium sulfate and others to get a placebo, a study design that’s considered the “gold standard” of medical testing.

Read more at USA Today

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