Friday, January 15, 2010

Reducing elective induction reduces cesarean rates

I was discussing a study with my OB during one of my prenatal appointments and he said, "Just because someone says it is so, doesn't mean it is so." I sort of laughed and said "I know" because the obvious counterpoint was that just because he said it was so didn't mean it was so either. At any rate, I ran across this study this morning, and while I can't get to the full text (yet!) I am always happy to find data supporting my belief that induction is associated with cesarean delivery:

http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(09)00210-5/abstract



A total of 10,166 nulliparas and 9869 multiparas attempted vaginal deliveries. Elective inductions decreased significantly, from 4.3% to 0.8% in nulliparas and from 13% to 9.5% in multiparas. A longer time to delivery was seen for both nulliparas (5.2 hours) and multiparas (4 hours) with elective inductions. Unplanned primary cesarean delivery rates are significantly lower in spontaneously laboring women, compared with those induced. (emphasis mine)



This appears to be so much better than the review I discussed in earlier posts- a large enough study group to be statistically significant, and performed recently, in the US, so it may apply to actual obstetric practice as it exists today.

1 comment:

  1. Great post. I hope our daughters give birth in a time when obstetrics has made a change for the better!

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