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Women who are given drugs to induce labour are
nearly twice as likely to suffer an amniotic fluid embolism, a rare but
potentially fatal complication of pregnancy, according to a study published
on Friday.
Researchers for the Maternal Health Study Group of the Canadian Perinatal
Surveillance System studied more than three million deliveries of babies in Canada over a
12-year period.
In 185 cases, women experienced the rare complication in which the amniotic
fluid that surrounds a baby in the womb enters the bloodstream and causes a
blockage, they wrote in the Lancet medical journal.
In 24 of those cases, the mothers died.
The women had been given drugs to induce labour in just 17 percent of the
deliveries. But those accounted for 52 of the amniotic fluid embolisms - 28
percent - and 10 of the fatal cases, or 42 percent.
"We should emphasise that the absolute risk of increase of amniotic
fluid embolism for women undergoing medical induction of labour is very
small: four or five total cases and one or two fatal cases per 100,000 women
induced," the authors wrote.
"However, with 4 million births per year and induction rates approaching
20 percent in the USA, this practice could be causing amniotic fluid embolism
in 30-40 women per year in the USA alone, including 10-15 deaths," they
wrote.
"Although the small absolute risk of amniotic fluid embolism is unlikely
to affect the decision to induce labour in the presence of compelling
clinical indications, women and physicians should be aware of the risk if the
decision is elective."
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