Rate of preterm birth in pregnant women with vitamin E treatment: a population-based study

Abstract

Objective: Vitamin E is frequently used for prevention/treatment of repeated or threatened abortion and threatened preterm delivery in Hungarian pregnant women, though, internationally this old-fashion method is not recommended. Methods: The rate of preterm birth of newborns in pregnant women with high dose (estimated daily dose 450 mg) vitamin E treatment or without this treatment was compared in the population-based large data set of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance System of Congenital Abnormalities. Results: Of 38,151 newborns with any defect, 2,287 (6.0%) had mothers with vitamin E treatment. Pregnant women with vitamin E treatment had very high rate of threatened abortion (43.6% vs. 15.4%) and high rate of threatened preterm delivery (27.5% vs. 13.4%) compared to pregnant women without vitamin E treatment. Nevertheless, the gestational age at delivery was 0.2 week longer and rate of preterm births was lower in the newborns of pregnant women with vitamin E treatment (6.6% vs. 9.3%; adjusted OR with 95% CI: 0.71, 0.63–0.84). This preterm preventive effect of vitamin E treatment could not be explained by known confounders, though folic acid/multivitamins also reduced the rate of preterm birth. Conclusion: The study showed nearly 30% reduction in preterm births of pregnant women with vitamin E treatment.

Keywords::

• vitamin E
• pregnancy
• preterm birth
• population-based study

Acknowledgements

Andrew E. Czeizel established the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities, prepared the data for analysis and wrote the paper. Erzsébet H.Puhó performed the statistical analysis of data. Liza Bártfai, Zoltán Bártfai, Iván Nedeczky and Ferenc Bánhidy checked and evaluated pregnancy complications, maternal diseases during pregnancy and birth outcomes.

Declaration of interest: The authors declared no conflict of interest.