Featured Review: Induction of labour at or beyond 37 weeks ’ gestation

A normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks (the gestation period) from the start of the woman ' s last menstrual period. If a pregnancy lasts too long, a woman and her clinician may wish to stimulate the woman ’s body to begin labour. This is called induction.Babies may be at a greater risk of death, before or shortly after birth, after prolonged gestation. However, induction of labour may also have risks for mothers and their babies, especially if women are not ready to labour.Current tests cannot predict whether babies would be better to stay inside their mother or whether labour should be induced to make the birth happen sooner. Many hospitals therefore have policies for how long pregnancies should continue.This updated Cochrane systematic review examined whether inducing labour at or beyond 37 weeks ' gestation, could reduce risks for the babies.The studiesThe authors identified 34 studies with more than 21,000 women that compared a policy to induce labour, usually after 41 completed weeks of gestation, with waiting for labour to start or waiting for a period before inducing labour, or both. The studies took place in Austria, Canada, China, India, Finland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, UK and USA.ResultsThere were fewer deaths of babies in hospitals that had a policy to induce labour after a certain time compared with waiting for labour to start naturally. There were fewer admissions to the intensive care nursery and fewer...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news