Using Celecoxib for the Suppression of Preterm Labor Instead of Magnesium Sulfate

We aimed to use celecoxib to suppress preterm labor instead magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) to prevent preterm labor. Methods. It was a randomized clinical trial study, which was done on 600 pregnant women. All subjects were divided into two groups by simple random sampling. One group was given 4 grams of MgSO4 intravenously and second group was given 100？mg of celecoxib orally every 12 hours for at least 2 days. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 11 and performed using -test and chi-square test. Results. The finding of this study has shown that preterm labor may be prevented in 75.7% of subjects who had received celecoxib and there were no significant difference between two groups in frequency of history of preterm labor (), frequencies of nulliparity (), duration of drug use and arrest contraction (), delivery before 48 hours (), and mean gestational age in lack of response to treatment (). Conclusions. Result has shown that celecoxib was similar to MgSO4 as a medication to prevent preterm labor; it was recommended to be prescribe to prevent preterm labor, because it was cheaper than magnesium sulfate. 1. Introduction Giving birth is one of the most amazing physiologic events in human life and it can be safe and pleasant in many circumstances, but in some situations it might end with known difficulties and complications for mother and her fetus. Preterm labor is one of these complications. It means regular uterine contractions with adequate frequency and intensity resulting in giving birth before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Preterm birth is the major reason of the neonatal death and it is responsible for about one third of neonatal mortality in the world [1, 2]. WHO publication mentions that each year more than 1 million babies die from complication of preterm delivery and the annual numbers of premature newborns are about 15 millions and this number is rising each year [3]. Based on WHO publications, UN Millennium Development Goal 4 is reduction of children mortality in two-thirds till 2015 by special attention to neonatal deaths in countries where the neonatal mortality is higher than other places. A great number of the global neonatal deaths happen in Asia [4]. Finding the ways to prevention of preterm birth is a very important issue for health care providers. There are a lot of modalities to achieve this goal but none of them has been introduced as the best way and the role of different methods in preventing preterm labor varies in different places. Tocolytics are agents that can stop the uterine contraction. Magnesium sulphate (MgSO4)