Magnesium could save hundreds of women's lives worldwide

Magnesium sulphate injections have been shown to halve the risk of eclampsia in pregnant women and can save their lives, concludes a major clinical trial published in this week's Lancet (2002;359:1877-90).

Over 10000 women from 33 countries, many of them in the developing world, took part in the three year, £2.5m ($3.7m; €3.9m) research study, funded by the UK Medical Research Council. All the women had pre-eclampsia. Half were randomly assigned to be given …