Lessons from an evidence-based medicine exploration: when transparency and sensitivity (analyses) can change the take-home message.

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Nadi Kaonga, Emory University; Toby Fitzgerald, Maine Medical Center
• Language: English
• Date: 2020
• Publisher: Maine Health
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: This Commentary is brought to you for free and open access by Maine Medical Center Department of Medical Education
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.46804/2641-2225.1055
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Maine Medical Center
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Keywords: oxytocin; evidence-based medicine; induction; obstetrics; labor
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Abstract

Induction of labor is quite common in the United States. While induction rates have declined over the last decade, nearly 1 in 4 deliveries (23%) in the United States is induced for medical or elective reasons. Of the induction agents available, intravenous (IV) oxytocin is used in an estimated 25% of cases. At our academic medical center, 40% of our labor inductions from April 2019 to September 2019 used IV oxytocin (unpublished data). This medication comes with high risks, including uterine tachysystole, hyperstimulation, fetal distress, hypotension, hypertension, hyponatremia, seizures, and coma.