Background: Induction of labor is usually performed when the risks of continuing pregnancy are higher than the benefits of delivery. Uterine cervical tissue ripening or its softening has a close relationship with success rate of delivery.
Objective: To compare the safety and effectiveness of sublingual misoprostol with combined sublingual misoprostol and vaginal estradiol for induction of labor in unfavorable cervix.
Subjects and methods: This was a prospective single blinded study conducted in Obstetrics and Gynecology Departments, El-Hussein University Hospital ELAlamin Standard Hospital, Matrouh including 160 women with unfavorable cervix and gestation ≥ 40 till 42 weeks with clinical indication for induction of labor. They would be randomly assigned to either the misoprostol+ placebo or misoprostol+ estradiol. The duration of the study was 12 months from 01 May 2019 till 01 may 2020.
Results: Women's Time to active labor in women with misoprostol+ placebo ranged between 5-9 hours with mean± S.D. 6.99±1.419 hours while in women with misoprostol+ estradiol was ranged between 5-9 hours with mean± S.D. 6.96±1.400 hours. There were no statistically significant differences between groups.
Conclusion: Sublingual misoprostol alone was as effective as sublingual misoprostol and vaginal Estradiol for induction of labor at term.