Misoprostol versus oxytocin for labor induction in term and post-term pregnancy: randomized controlled trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Oxytocin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To compare intravaginal misoprostol versus intravenous oxytocin for cervical ripening and labor induction in pregnant women with unripe cervices.

Why It Was Studied

Misoprostol, a synthetic E1 methyl analog prostaglandin, is at present receiving attention as a cervical modifier and labor induction agent.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 210 women taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, women only.

The study was performed at the Leonor Mendes de Barros Maternity Hospital between November 1998 and December 2000.

210 pregnant women with intact membranes and indication for labor induction were selected.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

The main parameters measured were: latent period, time from induction to vaginal delivery, delivery route, occurrence of vaginal delivery with time, occurrence of uterine tonus alterations, hypoxia and neonatal morbidity.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal, Cervical Ripening, Labor, Induced, Misoprostol, Oxytocin, Pregnancy, Prolonged and Reaction Time.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Oxytocin in 210 women.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2003 (Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina), a journal based in Brazil.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.