For how long should oxytocin be continued during induction of labour?

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Oxytocin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

To answer the question of whether oxytocin induction of labour should be discontinued when active labour begins.

Why It Was Studied

Patients who were admitted for induction of labour in Ha'Emek Medical Center from 1st February 1998 to 29th February 2000.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, women only.

The researchers enrolled patients admitted for induction of labour with oxytocin.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ha'Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Oxytocin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Patients were randomly divided into two groups.

In group A, infusion of oxytocin was incremental until 5 cm dilation and maintained at the same level from that point throughout the labour.

In group B, infusion of oxytocin was incremental but was discontinued when cervical dilatation reached 5 cm.

Comparison between the two groups was made using Wilcoxon rank-sum test and Fisher's exact test.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Heart Rate, Fetal, Labor Stage, First, Labor, Induced, Oxytocics, Oxytocin, Pregnancy Outcome and Prenatal Care.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Oxytocin.

Its findings take up roughly 8 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology), a journal based in England.

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