Magpie Trial Follow-Up Study Collaborative Group

The Magpie Trial,8 a large international study, is a randomised comparison of magnesium sulphate with placebo for women with pre-eclampisa. This trial showed that magnesium sulphate halves the relative risk (RR) of eclampsia, without appearing to have substantive harmful effects on either the mother or the baby in the short term.8, 9 To date, there has been no reliable assessment of whether8 magnesium sulphate influences long-term outcome following pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia.10, 11 We therefore contacted women recruited to the Magpie Trial when their children were 18 months or older. The main objective was to determine whether magnesium sulphate affects the child’s chance of surviving without neurosensory disability, and these data are reported elsewhere.12 Secondary objectives, which are reported in this article, were to determine the effects of magnesium sulphate on longer term outcome for women to assess whether there are unexpected adverse events and to assess prognosis for this international cohort of women with pre-eclampsia.