Induction of Labor

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many obstetricians and some midwives had begun recommending routine elective induction, meaning no medical reason for inducing labor, at 39 weeks. With the [...]

For those of you struggling with the news sweeping the internet that a trial has definitively established that women should be routinely induced at 39 weeks, a new study offers push back. (FYI: I [...]

The Stir picks up on a U Penn press release extolling a combo method of inducing labor that decreases labor duration by 4 hours compared with inducing with either of its components alone. I get [...]

“Our evidence suggests that mainstream obstetric science follows mainstream obstetric practice. A patient and expectant approach to birth…where all is considered normal until proved otherwise, [...]

Once again the internet is abuzz over a study concluding that inducing labor doesn’t increase the cesarean rate, this time in week 39 in 1st-time mothers age 35 or older. The justification for [...]

Some months ago, Henci deconstructed the prepublication manuscript of a systematic review concluding that elective induction at 40 weeks had benefits and didn’t increase the cesarean rate for [...]

Using a balloon catheter to ripen the cervix* in preparation for labor induction results in similar rates of cesarean, chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the fetal membranes), and low Apgar [...]

A Medscape article reporting on a randomized controlled trial claims that induction with an unfavorable cervix doesn’t increase cesarean rates, but let’s look closer. Investigators randomly [...]

In a new Science & Sensibility post, “Elective Induction at 40 Weeks? ‘Decision-Based Evidence Making’ Strikes Again,” Henci deconstructs a systematic review claiming [...]

German investigators explored the relationship between labor induction and fetal death between 2005 and 2012 in 5,300,000 births in order to determine whether a policy of late term induction [...]