| Quality assessment | Number of patients | Effect | Quality | Importance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of studies | Design | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Atenolol | Placebo | Relative (95% CI) | Absolute | ||
| Stillbirth | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Butters 1990) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious2 | none |
1/15 (6.7%) |
0/14 (0%) | RR 2.81 (0.12 to 63.83)5 | - | VERY LOW | CRITICAL |
| Small-for-gestational age | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Butters 1990) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | no serious imprecision | none |
10/15 (66.7%) |
0/14 (0%) | RR 19.69 (1.26 to 307.41)5 | - | LOW | CRITICAL |
| Birth weight (grams) (Better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Butters 1990) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious3 | none | 15 | 14 | - | MD 910 lower (440 to 1380) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Gestational age at birth (weeks) (Better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Butters 1990) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious3 | none | 15 | 14 | - | not calculable4 | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| sBP after treatment | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Butters 1990) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious3 | none | - | - | - | MD 4 higher (1.4 lower to 8.6 higher) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| dBP after treatment | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Butters 1990) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious3 | none | - | - | - | MD 7 lower (2.9 to 10 lower) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
The quality of the evidence was downgraded by 2 levels due to an unclear risk of random sequence generation and allocation concealment and a high risk of selective reporting
The quality of the evidence was downgraded by 2 levels as the 95% CI crossed 2 default MID thresholds (0.8 and 1.25)
The quality of the evidence was downgraded by 2 levels as imprecision could not be assessed as SDs have not been reported
Not enough information was provided to allow calculation (SDs have not been reported). The mean gestational age in the atenolol group was 39.5 weeks and in the placebo group was 38.5 weeks
Corresponding absolute risk was not calculated as there were no events reported in the control arm.
From: Evidence review for interventions for chronic hypertension
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