Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Elective induction versus spontaneous labour in Latin America

Gláucia Virgínia Guerra, José Guilherme Cecatti, João Paulo Souza, Aníbal Faúndes, Sirlei Siani Morais, Ahmet Metin Gülmezoglu, Renato Passini, Mary Angela Parpinelli, Guillermo Carroli, for the WHO Global Survey on Maternal & Perinatal Health in Latin America Study Group

Volume 89, Number 9, September 2011, 657-665

Table 4. Crude relative risk (RR) and adjusted relative risk (RRadj) of adverse perinatal outcomes in women with low-risk pregnancies who underwent elective labour induction in selected Latin American countries, 2005

Perinatal outcome Elective induction
 Spontaneous onset of labour
 RR (95% CI) RRadj (95% CI)a
No. % No. %
5th minute Apgar
< 7 18 0.98 366 1.03 0.95 (0.59–1.51) 1.06 (0.66–1.71)
≥ 7 1824 99.02 35 040 98.97 1.0 1.0
Missing 5 – 191 – – –
Birth weightb (g)
< 2 500 54 2.93 1158 3.26 0.90 (0.69–1.18) 0.87 (0.65–1.16)
≥ 2 500 1791 97.07 34 384 96.74 1.0 1.0
Missing 2 – 55 – – –
Admission to neonatal ICU
No 1754 95.69 33 886 95.50 1.0 1.0
Yes 79 4.31 1596 4.50 0.96 (0.77–1.20) 1.06 (0.85–1.34)
Missing 14 – 115 – – –
Early neonatal death
Alive 1845 100.0 35 463 99.92 1.0 1.0
Early neonatal death 0 – 30 0.08 – –
Missing 2 – 104 – – –
Breastfeeding started
Within first hour 989 53.69 20 800 58.88 1.0 1.0
1–24 hours after birth 739 40.12 13 440 38.04 1.09 (1.03–1.15) 1.10 (1.02–1.19)
After the first day 69 3.75 841 2.38 1.68 (1.32–2.13) 1.59 (1.24–2.05)
Not before 7th day 45 2.44 246 0.70 3.72 (2.73–5.08) 3.14 (2.28–4.34)
Missing 5 – 270 – – –

CI, confidence interval; ICU, intensive care unit.

a Cox regression model with adjustment for mode of delivery and all predictors in Table 2 except body mass index.

b Low birth weight: < 2500 g.