COMPARISON OF NEONATAL OUTCOME ASSOCIATED WITH INDUCED LABOUR VERSUS PLANNED VAGINAL DELIVERY IN A LOW-RISK OBSTETRIC POPULATION

Background and Objectives: Labour induction is a common obstetric procedure with continuing rising rates. The main objectives were to study selected neonatal morbidities and outcomes in relation to induced labour versus spontaneous vaginal delivery in a low risk obstetric population.

Methods: This was a prospective, comparative study that was conducted in Omdurman maternity hospital in Sudan, 400 babies were included in the study divided equally between induced and spontaneous vaginal delivery. Data was collected using a specifically designed questionnaire including maternal and neonatal data. Chi square test was used to study the correlation between neonatal outcome and type of delivery. P value was set at 0.05 level of significance.

Results: The main results showed significant association between induction of delivery and the following maternal variables: age, level of education, parity and frequency of antenatal care visits (P values respectively .027, .02, .003, .012). With regards to neonatal outcome, the study revealed significant association between type of delivery and low Apgar score (P= 0.001) with more babies in the spontaneous vaginal delivery group having low Apgar score however the study didn’t reveal any significant differences in neonatal outcome with regards to gender, birth weight, need for resuscitation and neonatal mortality (P values respectively .071, .077, .062, .562).

Conclusion: The study showed significant difference in Apgar score between the two groups, being lower in the spontaneous vaginal delivery group but didn’t reveal any significant differences in neonatal outcome with regards to gender, birth weight, need for resuscitation and neonatal mortality.