| Quality assessment | No of patients | Effect | Quality | Importance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of studies | Design | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Methyldopa | No intervention | Relative (95% CI) | Absolute | ||
| Stillbirth | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Redman 1976) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | serious2 | none |
1/98 (1%) |
9/92 (9.8%) | RR 0.1 (0.01 to 0.81) | 88 fewer per 1000 (from 19 fewer to 97 fewer) | VERY LOW | CRITICAL |
| Perinatal death | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Sibai 1990) | randomised trials | very serious3 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
1/88 (1.1%) |
1/90 (1.1%) | RR 1.02 (0.06 to 16.10) | 0 more per 1000 (from 10 fewer to 168 more) | VERY LOW | CRITICAL |
| Small for gestational age | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Sibai 1990) | randomised trials | very serious3 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
6/88 (6.8%) |
8/90 (8.9%) | RR 0.77 (0.28 to 2.12) | 20 fewer per 1000 (from 64 fewer to 100 more) | VERY LOW | CRITICAL |
| Birth weight (grams) (Better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Redman 1976) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | no serious imprecision | none | 98 | 92 | - | MD 40 higher (117.58 lower to 197.58 higher) | LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Gestational age at birth (weeks) (Better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Redman 1976) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | no serious imprecision | none | 103 | 101 | - | MD 0.03 lower (0.48 lower to 0.42 higher) | LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Preterm birth (<37 weeks) | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Sibai 1990) | randomised trials | very serious3 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
11/88 (12.5%) |
9/90 (10%) | RR 1.25 (0.54 to 2.87) | 25 more per 1000 (from 46 fewer to 187 more) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Impaired vision at 7.5 years old | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Cockburn 1982) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | serious2 | none |
7/98 (7.1%) |
14/92 (15.2%) | RR 0.47 (0.20 to 1.11) | 81 fewer per 1000 (from 122 fewer to 17 more) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Impaired hearing at 7.5 years old | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Cockburn 1982) | randomised trials | very serious1 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
7/96 (7.3%) |
6/92 (6.5%) | RR 1.12 (0.39 to 3.20) | 8 more per 1000 (from 40 fewer to 143 more) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Superimposed pre-eclampsia | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Sibai 1990) | randomised trials | very serious3 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
16/88 (18.2%) |
14/90 (15.6%) | RR 1.17 (0.61 to 2.25) | 26 more per 1000 (from 61 fewer to 194 more) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Placental abruption | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Sibai 1990) | randomised trials | very serious3 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
1/88 (1.1%) |
2/90 (2.2%) | RR 0.51 (0.05 to 5.54) | 11 fewer per 1000 (from 21 fewer to 101 more) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
| Mode of birth (caesarean section) | ||||||||||||
| 1 (Sibai 1990) | randomised trials | very serious3 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | very serious4 | none |
31/88 (35.2%) |
29/90 (32.2%) | RR 1.09 (0.72 to 1.65) | 29 more per 1000 (from 90 fewer to 209 more) | VERY LOW | IMPORTANT |
The quality of the evidence was downgraded by 2 levels due to an unclear risk of random sequence generation, allocation concealment, performance and detection bias, and a high risk of selective reporting
The quality of the evidence was downgraded by 1 level as the 95% CI crossed 1 default MID threshold (0.8)
The quality of the evidence was downgraded by 2 levels due to an unclear risk of allocation concealment, performance and selection bias, and 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)
From: Evidence review for interventions for chronic hypertension
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