Pregnancy outcomes of elective induction in low-risk term pregnancies: A propensity-score analysis

We investigated the mode of delivery and perinatal outcomes in low-risk pregnant women whose labor was electively induced or expectantly managed at term. Healthy women with viable, vertex singleton pregnancies at 37(+0) to 40(+6) weeks of gestation were included. Women electively induced (n = 416) in each week (37(+0)–37(+6), 38(+0)–38(+6), 39(+0)–39(+6), 40(+0)–40(+6) weeks) were compared with pregnant women with spontaneous labor (n = 487). The primary outcome was mode of delivery. A propensity score (PS) was derived using logistic regression to model the probability of elective induction group as a function of potential confounders. Altogether, 284 women with elective induction were matched with 284 women who underwent expectant management to create a PS-matched population. All analysis was performed using SAS software, version 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). All P values reported of the significance level was set at <.05. There are no significant differences of delivery mode, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, and neonatal complication between PS-matched groups. Incidence of antepartum complications showed higher in the elective induction group compared to the spontaneous labor group (P = .04). When comparing each gestational week, incidence of NICU admission at 38 weeks in the elective induction group [10/74 (13.5%)] was significantly higher than in and the spontaneous labor group [2/74 (2.7%)] (P = .04). Elective induction of labor at term is not associated with increased risk of cesarean delivery. However, overall incidence of NICU admission at 38 gestational weeks seems to be increased in elective induction.