WASHINGTON — Elective induction did not adversely affect the cesarean-section rate or maternal fetal morbidity in a retrospective cohort study of 361 nulliparous patients.
The women, who were at 37-41 weeks' gestation, were delivered from January 1998 to December 1999 at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. The women had singleton pregnancies and no medical indications for delivery, David J. Bonilla, M.D., reported in a poster at the annual meeting of District VII of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The women were divided two groups: a spontaneous labor group and a group that had elective induction with a favorable cervix (Bishop score of at least 5), reported Dr. Bonilla of the clinic.
The C-section rate was almost 10% in the group of 114 patients who had elective induction with a favorable cervix, compared with 17% in the 247 patients who had spontaneous labor.
The induction group had a significantly higher rate of instrumental delivery, compared with the spontaneous labor group, 32% vs. 23%. There was a slight increase in admissions to the neonatal ICU in the elective induction group (1.45% vs. 3.23%), but it was not significant. Elective induction did not impact other outcome variables in relation to fetal morbidity