Pregnant women tempted to hasten labour for convenience rather than medical necessity may want to wait for nature to take its course.
Pregnant women tempted to induce labour for convenience rather than medical necessity may want to wait for nature to take its course.
Inducing labour also introduces a risk of 1 to 2 caesareans per 25 inductions that might have been avoided by waiting for spontaneous labour to begin. While this risk to individual women is not particularly large, 1 to 2 caesareans per 25 inductions can quickly add up to tens of thousands of unnecessary caesareans over the course of millions of inductions. While the procedures have become more common, C-sections are major surgeries, and carry higher cost as well as risk of infection, bleeding, blood clots, and injury to other organs.
Researchers analysed birth certificate data for some 38,000 women from 13 hospitals in New York State from January 2004 to March 2008. They excluded women with scheduled or previous caesarean deliveries, or who had come to the hospital with ruptured membranes. While previous studies have already shown that induced labour increases the risk for caesarean, the researchers examined how that risk might shift given a redefined comparison group.
They examined C-section rates after induction using three comparison groups: a week-by-week comparison of women with induced labour compared with those delivering spontaneously; women induced at a chosen week compared with women who delivered spontaneously after that week; and women induced at a chosen week compared with women who delivered spontaneously on or after that week.
It was found that all labour induced groups faced higher risk for C-section, except for those women delivering after 39 weeks. The researchers advise that pregnant women and their doctors may be better off waiting for spontaneous labour and suggest reserving interventions for situations where risk outweighs benefit such as in cases with diabetes, high blood pressure, problems with the placenta, a baby that is not growing well, or a woman being 10 days past her due date.
Inducing labour also introduces a risk of 1 to 2 caesareans per 25 inductions that might have been avoided by waiting for spontaneous labour to begin. While this risk to individual women is not particularly large, 1 to 2 caesareans per 25 inductions can quickly add up to tens of thousands of unnecessary caesareans over the course of millions of inductions. While the procedures have become more common, C-sections are major surgeries, and carry higher cost as well as risk of infection, bleeding, blood clots, and injury to other organs.
Researchers analysed birth certificate data for some 38,000 women from 13 hospitals in New York State from January 2004 to March 2008. They excluded women with scheduled or previous caesarean deliveries, or who had come to the hospital with ruptured membranes. While previous studies have already shown that induced labour increases the risk for caesarean, the researchers examined how that risk might shift given a redefined comparison group.
They examined C-section rates after induction using three comparison groups: a week-by-week comparison of women with induced labour compared with those delivering spontaneously; women induced at a chosen week compared with women who delivered spontaneously after that week; and women induced at a chosen week compared with women who delivered spontaneously on or after that week.
It was found that all labour induced groups faced higher risk for C-section, except for those women delivering after 39 weeks. The researchers advise that pregnant women and their doctors may be better off waiting for spontaneous labour and suggest reserving interventions for situations where risk outweighs benefit such as in cases with diabetes, high blood pressure, problems with the placenta, a baby that is not growing well, or a woman being 10 days past her due date.
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