Article,
Earlier routine induction of labor—Consequences on mother and child morbidity
Contributors
Gregersen, Maria Koch
0000-0003-1756-6222
(Corresponding author)
[1]
Affiliations
- [1] Aarhus University [NORA names: AU Aarhus University; University; Denmark; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD]
Abstract
A growing number of birth interventions had led to a concern for potential health consequences. This study investigates the consequences of earlier routine labor induction. It exploits a natural experiment caused by the introduction of new Danish obstetric guidelines in 2011. Consequently, routine labor induction was moved forward from 14 to 10-13 days past the expected due date (EDD) and extended antenatal surveillance was introduced from 7 days past the EDD. Using administrative data, I find that affected mothers on average had a 9-11 percentage points (32%-38%) higher risk of being induced the following years. Yet, mother and child short- and medium-term morbidity were largely unaffected.
Keywords
EDD,
administrative data,
affected mother,
antenatal surveillance,
average,
birth,
birth interventions,
child morbidity,
children,
children's short-,
consequences,
data,
date,
days,
experiments,
guidelines,
health consequences,
induction,
intervention,
introduction,
labor induction,
labour consequences,
medium-term morbidity,
morbidity,
mothers,
natural experiment,
obstetric guidelines,
percentage,
percentage points,
point,
potential health consequences,
risk,
routine labor induction,
short-,
study,
surveillance,
years
