Inducing labour at full term may have benefits    

Inducing labour in normal full-term pregnancies has generally been frowned upon, but a new study suggests that induction causes no apparent harm, and may have advantages.

Researchers pooled data from five randomised trials involving 884 women with uncomplicated full-term single-child deliveries at 39 to 41 weeks’ gestation.

Half had induced labour, and half received regular care. The analysis appears in The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Previous observational studies have concluded that induction leads to more caesarean sections, but the data from these trials produced no evidence of this.

Nor was there any difference between the groups in five-minute Apgar scores lower than seven (scores below seven call for medical attention) or admission to a neonatal intensive care unit.

They also found that induction was associated with significantly lower blood loss for the mother.

“We have the preliminary data saying that what we thought about induction — that it led to increased C-sections — is wrong,” said the lead author, Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Induction before 39 weeks in healthy pregnancies is not recommended, Berghella said, but at 39 weeks and later, “induction is safe and effective, even in cases without other complications of pregnancy.”