Multicentre Trial of Calcium Channel Blocker versus Calcium Channel Blocker Plus Cox2 Inhibitor in Preterm Labour

Funded Activity Summary

Preterm birth is a major problem in our society, and has enormous consequences for parents and children. It also has a major impact on scarce financial resources. When women present in preterm labor, current therapies have only limited success in stopping contractions and postponing birth. They have not been shown to reduce the rates of the serious neonatal problems associated with prematurity. This project will be coordinated in Newcastle, N.S.W., and will involve major perinatal centres throughout Australia, along with overseas centres. It will test a new combination of drugs for their ability to postpone delivery in women presenting with preterm labour. It is postulated that the combination of drugs will be more effective than existing therapies. The drugs used in the trial are Nifedipine and Rofecoxib. Complications of prematurity include neonatal death, cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairment, and chronic lung disease. These complications are most significant in extremely premature infants - in particular, those under 28 weeks gestation at the time of their delivery. For this reason, the study will focus only on women presenting in labour below 28 weeks. The ability to stop labour is important, but the main aim of any treatment for preterm labour is to reduce the rates of neonatal death and handicap. Babies born to women enrolled in this study will be followed for a period of one year after birth to assess their outcomes. It is our hypothesis that the combination of Rofecoxib and Nifedipine will result in lower rates of death and handicap in babies than Nifedipine alone. In addition, we will examine the rates of side effects in women receiving therapy. Currently used therapies, including intravenous ventolin, have high rates of maternal side effects. Nifedipine and Rofecoxib have both been shown to have low rates of maternal side effects.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $644,130.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Obstetrics And Gynaecology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Clinical Trial | Drug Efficacy | Neonatal | Neonatal Brain Injury | Neonatal Survival | Obstetrics | Premature Birth | Premature Labour | Preterm labour | Reproduction

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