Preventing the recurrence of atonic postpartum hemorrhage: a double-blind trial.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Oxytocin.

The researchers conducted a double-blind randomized controlled trial to compare a conventional regimen of oxytocin and ergometrine with administration of the prostaglandin E2 analogue, sulprostone, for prophylaxis of postpartum hemorrhage in high-risk women.

Who Took Part

PubMed tags the participants as women only.

Women with a history of postpartum hemorrhage > or = 1000 were assigned to two coded prophylactic regimens.

Drugs, given respectively at delivery of the anterior shoulder and after delivery of the placenta, were oxytocin and ergometrine in the control group, and sulprostone and placebo in the experimental group.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

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

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Oxytocin.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Oxytocin, giving a reference point.

Eighty-one women, 69 of whom actually participated in the trial, were investigated.

Both the women and the caregivers were unaware of treatment allocation.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal, Dinoprostone, Ergonovine, Muscle Tonus, Oxytocin, Postpartum Hemorrhage and Recurrence.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1995 (Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Oxytocin library page, all human trials.