Background: Intravenous calcium administration has shown promise in enhancing uterine contractions and reducing blood loss during cesarean section, but this regimen has not been compared in vaginal labor induction.
Objective: To determine the efficacy of oxytocin combined with calcium versus oxytocin alone for inducing labor among women with term premature rupture of membranes (PROM).
Study design: This single-blind, randomized control trial was conducted between October 2022 and May 2023 in a tertiary university hospital. Patients diagnosed with PROM were randomly allocated into two groups. The intervention group received a bolus of 10 mL of calcium gluconate followed by a continuous infusion of oxytocin via a pump (n = 210), whereas the control group received only oxytocin infusion (n = 218). The primary outcome was successful vaginal deliveries within 24 hours of labor induction. Secondary outcomes included the interval from labor induction to delivery, vaginal delivery blood loss, and maternal and neonatal complications.
Results: Baseline characteristics, including maternal age, BMI, Bishop score before labor induction, were comparable between groups. The rate of vaginal delivery within 24 hours of labor induction was statistically higher in the intervention group (79.52% vs. 70.64%; P = 0.04). Participants in intervention group experienced a shortened interval between induction and delivery (10.48 h vs. 11.25h; P = 0.037), and demonstrated a higher success rate in induction of labor assessed by the onset of active phase (93.80% vs. 87.61%; P = 0.04) without increasing the cesarean rate. Reduced hemorrhage was presented in the intervention group (242.5ml vs. 255.0ml; P = 0.0015) while the maternal and neonatal outcomes were comparable between groups.
Conclusion: The co-administration of calcium and oxytocin in labor induction among pregnancies with PROM was more efficient and safer than oxytocin alone. Our research suggests that the combination therapy of calcium and oxytocin may offer significant advantages during the process of labor induction and result in better outcomes.
Background: Pre-eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. Emerging data suggests that postpartum pre-eclampsia may be associated with a higher incidence of maternal morbidity compared to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) diagnosed antenatally. Understanding postpartum maternal risk across facilities with a spectrum of obstetric services is critical with the rising rates of pre-eclampsia in all healthcare settings.
Objectives: We investigated the relationship between facility delivery volume and rates of non-transfusion severe maternal morbidity (SMM) among patients readmitted postpartum for pre-eclampsia with severe features.
Study design: This is a retrospective cohort study using the Nationwide Readmissions Database (2015-2019) of postpartum patients readmitted for pre-eclampsia with severe features. Our primary outcome was non-transfusion SMM during readmission, defined per U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria. We also evaluated SMM, cardiac SMM, and individual morbidities. The exposure variable was the number of annual deliveries at the readmitting facility. Restricted cubic splines with 4 knots were used to assess the functional form of the relationship between obstetric delivery volume and non-transfusion SMM; a linear relationship was identified as optimal. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) which controlled for maternal age, non-transfusion SMM at delivery, expanded obstetric comorbidity index, and HDP during delivery.
Results: The cohort included 29,472 patients readmitted with postpartum pre-eclampsia with severe features. The primary payer was 55% private and 42% governmental. Median age was 31.4 years. Most patients did not have prior HDP (65%) or chronic hypertension (86%) diagnosis antenatally. The median interval from delivery hospitalization to readmission was 3.9 days (25th percentile-75th percentile: 2.2-6.5). Non-transfusion SMM occurred in 7% of patients readmitted to facilities with >2,000 deliveries compared to 9% with 1-2,000 deliveries, and 52% without any delivery hospitalizations. The most common SMM was pulmonary edema and heart failure, observed in 4% of readmissions. We observed that for every increase in 1,000 deliveries, the odds of a non-transfusion SMM at readmission decreased by 3.5% (aOR: 0.965; 95% confidence interval: 0.94, 0.99) CONCLUSIONS: Non-transfusion SMM for postpartum readmissions with pre-eclampsia with severe features was inversely associated with readmitting hospital delivery volume. This information may guide risk-reducing initiatives for identifying strategies to optimize postpartum care at facilities with lower or no delivery volume.
With approximately 145 million births occurring worldwide each year - over 30 million by cesarean delivery, the need for evaluation of maternal and perinatal outcomes in different delivery scenarios is more pressing than ever. Recently, in a meta-analysis of the available randomized controlled trials (RCTs), planned cesarean delivery was associated with decreased rates of low umbilical artery pH, and neonatal complications such as birth trauma, tube feeding, and hypotonia when compared to planned vaginal delivery. Among singleton pregnancies, planned cesarean delivery was associated with a lower rate of perinatal death. For mothers, planned cesarean delivery was associated with significantly less chorioamnionitis, more wound infection, and less urinary incontinence at 1-2 years. Conversely, planned vaginal delivery has been associated with benefits such as a lower incidence of wound infection and quicker postpartum recovery compared to planned cesarean delivery. Nonetheless, several risk factors for cesarean delivery are increasing - such as older maternal age, obesity, diabetes, excessive gestational weight gain, and birth weight - while maternal pelvises are getting smaller. Concerns about the potential long-term risks of multiple cesarean deliveries, such as placenta accreta spectrum disorders, highlight the need for a balanced evaluation of both delivery modes. However, the total fertility rate is decreasing in the US and around the world, with many people wanting two or fewer babies, which decreases future risk of placenta accreta incurred by multiple cesarean deliveries in these individuals. Furthermore, one in four obstetricians-gynecologists has undergone a cesarean delivery on maternal request for their nulliparous, singleton, term, vertex (NSTV) pregnancy, and cesarean delivery rates less than about 19% have been associated with higher perinatal and maternal mortality. Thus, we propose that it is imperative that we prioritize conducting randomized trials to compare planned cesarean to planned vaginal delivery for NSTV pregnancies. Such trials would need to include 8,000 or more individuals; they would ideally follow each participant to the end of their reproductive life and study perinatal and maternal outcomes, including non-biologic outcomes such as patient satisfaction, postpartum depression, breastfeeding rates, mother-infant bonding, post-traumatic stress, and cost-effectiveness. The time for such a trial is now, as it holds the potential to inform and improve obstetrical care practices globally.