In 1995, a retrospective study of 8,709 women who had been on the terbutaline pump was published (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 173, pp. 1273-1277). This study, by Kenneth G. Perry, M.D., and colleagues in Jackson, Miss., concluded that the rate of cardiovascular complications among these women was 0.54 percent. This study is often touted by supporters of the terbutaline pump.
However, this study has several problems. First, it was done using the records and database of the *distributor* of the terbutaline pump (Tokos Medical Corp., now known as Matria Healthcare, Inc.). Matria has a profit motive in producing a study that finds a low rate of cardiovascular complications among its terbutaline pump users. Matria's role in this study would be the equivalent of a tobacco company sponsoring a study of its customers that showed cigarettes don't cause cancer. In addition, there is no way to know if the database was tainted or skewed in any way before it was used. Nor is there a way to verify that all patients' complications were reported to Matria. Second, this was a retrospective study. This means there were no control groups, no randomization and no double-blind.
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