title: Oxytocin regimen for labor augmentation, labor progression, and perinatal outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effects and safety of high-dose (compared with low-dose) oxytocin regimen for labor augmentation on perinatal outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the Consortium on Safe Labor were used. A total of 15,054 women from six hospitals were eligible for the analysis. Women were grouped based on their oxytocin starting dose and incremental dosing of 1, 2, and 4 milliunits/min. Duration of labor and a number of maternal and neonatal outcomes were compared among these three groups stratified by parity. Multivariable logistic regression and generalized linear mixed model were used to adjust for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Oxytocin regimen did not affect the rate of cesarean delivery or other perinatal outcomes. Compared with 1 milliunit/min, the regimens starting with 2 milliunits/min and 4 milliunits/min reduced the duration of first stage by 0.8 hours (95% confidence interval 0.5-1.1) and 1.3 hours (1.0-1.7), respectively, in nulliparous women. No effect was observed on the second stage of labor. Similar patterns were observed in multiparous women. High-dose regimen was associated with a reduced risk of meconium stain, chorioamnionitis, and newborn fever in multiparous women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-dose oxytocin regimen (starting dose at 4 milliunits/min and increment of 4 millliunits/min) is associated with a shorter duration of first-stage of labor for all parities without increasing the cesarean delivery rate or adversely affecting perinatal outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  II.
authors.affiliation: From the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, and the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; MOE and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Intermountain Healthcare and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas; Christiana Care Health System, Newark, Delaware; MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio; and the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: D Ware
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Branch
authors.forename: Mildred M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: S Katherine
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Laughon
authors.forename: Uma
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Mathew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailit
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kominiarek
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Judith U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Hibbard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D007745:Labor Onset / Q000187:drug effects; D007751:Labor, Induced; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications; D010120:Oxytocics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010120:Oxytocics; D010121:Oxytocin