BACKGROUND A recent randomised controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated that induction of labour at 39 weeks of gestational age has no short-term adverse effect on the mother or infant among nulliparous women aged ≥35 years. However, the trial was underpowered to address the effect of routine induction of labour on the risk of perinatal death. We aimed to determine the association between induction ...

OBJECTIVE To study the incidence and indications for labour induction and study the predictors of failed induction. MATERIAL AND METHOD A hospital based prospective study done over a 12 month period between 1st November 2007 to 30th October 2008. SELECTION CRITERIA Singleton pregnancies beyond 37 weeks with vertex presentation and unscarred uterus requiring induction of labour. RESULTS Th...

OBJECTIVES To assess the differences in the maternal and fetal outcomes between pharmacological induced and sponta-neous labour in nulliparous women. MATERIAL AND METHODS Observational cohort study carried out over a period of 2 years. INCLUSION CRITERIA nulliparous sin-gleton pregnancies, with cephalic fetal presentation, elective labour induction with intra-vaginal prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)...

The labour records of 1000 consecutive deliveries were studied to compare the incidence of postpartum haemorrhage after induced labour with that after spontaneous labour. The discovery of an increased incidence of postpartum haemorrhage in the induced group prompted further analysis of the incidence of haemorrhage among 3674 normal deliveries. This analysis confirmed that the incidence of postp...

OBJECTIVE To determine predictors of outcome for induction of labour using oral misoprostol. SETTING Labour ward at Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, that serves an indigent South African urban population. METHODS Data were collected prospectively on all women undergoing induction of labour with oral misoprostol from 1 March 2004 to 28 February 2005. Patients with contraindicat...

BACKGROUND Induction of labour is the process of initiating the labour by artificial means from 24 weeks of gestation. The main aim of this study is to find out the maternal and foetal outcomes after induction of labour with misoprostol and oxytocin beyond 37 weeks of gestation. METHODS This was a hospital-based observational study carried out at Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital, Nepa...

BACKGROUND Various methods are used for cervical ripening during the induction of labour. It is still debatable which of these methods of treatment is optimal. OBJECTIVE To compare treatment techniques for cervical ripening in the induction of labour. SEARCH STRATEGY Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Collaboration databases were searched using the keywords 'cervical ripening', 'labour induc...

BACKGROUND This is one of a series of reviews of methods of cervical ripening and labour induction using standardised methodology. The use of complementary therapies is rising and some women look to complementary therapies during pregnancy and childbirth to be used alongside conventional medical practice. Acupuncture involves the insertion of very fine needles into specific points of the body. ...

Reduction of maternal and infant mortalities is two key targets critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Approximately four million fetuses annually are stillborn after the age of viability. Similarly, more than five hundred women die each year as a result of childbirth. Majority of these deaths occur in the developing and poor resource settings like ours. The prevention of these...

This paper develops a model of intellectual labor augmentation to explain both the marriage wage premium and educational assortative mating. We suggest that husbands and wives are complementary factors of production where a spouse’s education and skills augment their partner’s productivity and earnings potential. We test this proposition using data from the 2000 U.S. Census of Population and th...