Epsom Salt Reduces Risk of Cerebral Palsy in Premature Newborns

There is a simple treatment for women at risk of pre-term delivery that can reduce the risk of cerebral palsy in their babies by nearly half. It was recently found through a decades-long study that mothers given an infusion of Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) decreased the risk for cerebral palsy in their newborns by 45 percent. Healthcare providers consider the treatment a way of stabilizing an expectant mother's blood vessels that in turn keeps sufficient oxygen supplied to the brain of the baby.
Study lead author Dr. Dwight J. Rouse, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said, "If deemed to be at high or immediate risk of delivery prior to 32 weeks, women and their doctors should consider using magnesium sulfate to prevent their child from having cerebral palsy."
Cerebral palsy is caused by injury to the part of the brain that controls muscle movements. Some children develop it after a head injury or brain infection, such as bacterial meningitis. Yet, the majority of cases occur just before birth, during delivery, or soon after. In fact, approximately one-third of all cerebral palsy cases are associated with pre-term birth.
Abnormal movement control and postures that cause limited activity are characteristic of cerebral palsy. This developmental brain disorder strikes 2 out of every 1,000 infants born in the United States. Experts are concerned that with a climbing premature infant survival rate there will also be a marked increase in the number of cases of cerebral palsy.
According to study co-author, Dr. Deborah Hirtz, a pediatric neurologist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, "If we keep accelerating the rate at which we are able to save these very little babies, we are likely to see more cases of cerebral palsy, in which case we haven't saved them neurologically."
More than a decade of research involved over 2,200 women at hospitals across the United States who displayed signs of early labor and were at impending risk for pre-term delivery with fetus development being between 24 and 31 weeks. (According to the March of Dimes, babies born after 37 to 42 weeks of pregnancy are considered full term). These women were randomly given either intravenous magnesium sulfate or placebo in the hours before giving birth. Those receiving the magnesium sulfate cut the odds of their infants later developing cerebral palsy by almost half.
Researchers believe that these findings could potentially be one of largest breakthroughs for premature delivery in three decades. Yet, some experts advise caution and more study before routinely recommending the treatment to prevent cerebral palsy.
Rouse explained that in past studies, magnesium sulfate hasn't been proven as an effective treatment for delaying early labor, yet it has proven effective for treatment of maternal high blood pressure associated with pregnancy. He added, "Our findings are applicable only to early pre-term birth," defining high risk as threatening delivery prior to 32 weeks.
The findings are published in the Aug. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.