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In 2007, a substantially higher proportion of births involved induction of labor than in 1990 (23% vs. 9%). Researchers at one institution conducted a 4-year retrospective cohort study in which the courses of induced versus spontaneous term labors were compared in 5388 women with singleton pregnancies and vertex presentations. Results were analyzed by parity.
In all, 2021 participants (38%) presented in spontaneous labor, 1647 (31%) were induced, and 1720 (32%) were augmented after an initial diagnosis of spontaneous labor. Induced labors lasted significantly longer than spontaneous labors (median time to progress from 4- to 10-cm cervical dilation, 5.5 hours vs. 3.8 hours in nulliparous women; 4.4 hours vs. 2.4 hours in multiparous women). …