A randomized comparative study of prophylactic oxytocin versus ergometrine in the third stage of labor

What Was Tested

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

To compare the effect of prophylactic use of oxytocin and ergometrine in management of the third stage of labor.

Who Took Part

The study group was 600 women.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers and adults, women only.

A prospective randomized study of 600 women assigned to receive either oxytocin or ergometrine in the third stage of labor.

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.

Outcome measures were the predelivery and 48-hour postdelivery hematocrit, duration of the third stage, specific side effects, and incidence of postpartum hemorrhage.

Statistical analyses were done using the t test for continuous variables and chi2 test for categorical variables.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Delivery, Obstetric, Ergonovine, Labor Stage, Third, Oxytocics, Oxytocin and Postpartum Hemorrhage.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Oxytocin in 600 women.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 3 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2008 (International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics), a journal based in United States.

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