For a study, researchers sought to determine the best time to use postpartum magnesium sulfate to avoid eclampsia. From their establishment until January 2020, the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for English-language human randomized controlled trials. The keywords “eclampsia,” “magnesium sulfate,” and “postpartum” were included in the search strategy. Covidence data-management software was used to examine the title, abstract, and full text. The final evaluation contained 10 studies from the 3,629 publications that were reviewed. Studies that examined two separate time points of magnesium sulfate postpartum in women with either preeclampsia or eclampsia were considered.
Studies were examined independently by two writers. The RevMan program was used to compute risk difference (RD) and mean difference (MD) for categorical outcomes and mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes. When compared to 24-hour postpartum regimens, shorter magnesium sulfate duration (12 hours or less) was not related to an increased risk of eclampsia (RD -0.01, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.01, I^2 70%). Shorter regimens did not enhance the risk of eclampsia in preeclamptic women (RD 0, 95 percent CI -0.01 to 0.01, I^2 0%), nor did trials in eclamptic women (RD -0.04, 95% CI -0.14 to 0.07, I^2 87%). Secondary outcomes such as flushing, Foley catheter insertion length, delay to ambulation, and hospital stay duration were all reduced with shorter-duration magnesium sulfate. The systematic review and meta-analysis showed that taking postpartum magnesium sulfate for a shorter period of time did not raise the risk of eclamptic seizures; nonetheless, the evidence was still insufficient to draw solid conclusions.
