Efectividad de los agentes tocolíticos para la prevención del parto prematuro

Abstract

Introduction: Preterm labour is a major risk that compromises the life of the foetus as well as the mother. This event has become a major public health problem, which is why attempts have been made to reduce maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality through the use of tocolytic agents to inhibit uterine contractions and postpone delivery with the application of corticosteroids for pulmonary maturation. Objective: To differentiate the degree of effectiveness of each tocolytic agent and to determine which is the safest for application at the first level of care, considering their adverse reactions. Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out using educational platforms, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Redalyc, from the last 5 years in English and Spanish, selecting approximately 26 articles on the proposed topic. Conclusion: The most widely used drugs worldwide are indomethacin, terbutaline, nifedipine and atosiban, which through different mechanisms of action reach the same objective, their effectiveness is almost the same, excluding atosiban which has a lower effectiveness than the others; however, what differentiates them is the consideration of their use after a specific week and the adverse maternal and foetal effects they could cause. Thus, nifedipine is considered safe for use in the different levels of care that require it for the prolongation of preterm labour due to its effectiveness and fewer adverse maternal and foetal effects.