comparative study to evaluate the role of alpha tocopherol in pregnancy induced hypertension

To assess the role of alpha tocopherol in Pregnancy Induced Hypertension [PIH] by comparing pregnancy induced hypertensive patients on routine anti-hypertensive measures with pregnancy induced hypertensive patients on alpha tocopherol plus routine antihypertensive measures. Retrospective Randomizing Study. This study was conducted at the Department of pharmacology and Therapeutics, Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from April 2004 to Sept. 2004. Two groups each comprising of 25 pregnancy induced hypertensive females, age ranging from 18-40 years were studied in this study. Changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were assessed from 24-28 weeks of pregnancy and were followed at every 15 days till the time of delivery in Control Group-I [G-I] and Test Group-II [G-II]. On day-0 systolic blood pressure on average showed higher value in G-II compared to G-I. On day 30, 60 and day final, the mean systolic blood pressure showed lower values in G-II although the difference was found statistically insignificant. When diastolic blood pressure studied, it showed on the average same readings for G-I and G-II on day-0. On day 30, day 60 and day final, it also showed statistically insignificant difference between G-I and G-II with higher mean diastolic blood pressure in G-I. Alpha tocopherol exerted better effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in test group when compared with control group

Role of alpha tocopherol as an adjuvant therapy in pregnancy induced hypertension

Hypertension in the most common medical problem encountered in pregnancy and remains an important cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. To conduct a clinical study to evaluate the adjuvant effect of alpha-tocopherol along with routine hypertensive measures in patients with pregnancy induced hypertension. A total of 25 pregnancy induced hypertensive patients with single fetus were prospectively followed up from 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy till the end of pregnancy. The patients were given capsule alpha-tocopherol 400 mg/day as adjuvant therapy. The base line readings and then at 4 weekly intervals of maternal blood pressure and platelets count and evaluated statistically till the end of pregnancy. The mean systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure decreased by 3.5% and 4.36% respectively with significant p value <0.01. The platelet count increased by 5.98% though statistically non significant. Maternal blood pressure decreased and platelet count increased by oral supplementation of alpha tocopherol. Therefore the effect of alpha-tocopherol on these parameters should be considered in future for longer duration and larger scale studies