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Over the past few decades, obstetricians have increasingly used vacuum extractors in lieu of forceps, without evidence supporting the superiority of either delivery method. In this retrospective cohort study of 4120 term cephalic deliveries, researchers compared outcomes after forceps (n=2075) and vacuum-assisted (n=2045) deliveries. Excluded were deliveries involving multiple gestations, fetal anomalies, use of rotational forceps, or occiput transverse position. Women who underwent forceps delivery were significantly more likely than those who underwent vacuum-assisted delivery to be younger than 35, to have Medicaid insurance, and to have had episiotomy and epidural analgesia.
Compared with vacuum-assisted delivery, forceps delivery was le…