number needed to treat and time to relinquish oxytocin. A randomized clinical trail

To evaluate the use of oral misoprostol for cervical ripening and labor induction in term pregnancy with intact and ruptured membranes, we selected two hundred primigravidae at term admitted to El Shatby maternity hospital fulfilling our selection criteria. All subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 100ug misoprostol orally that was repeated every 4 hours till adequate contraction pattern occured or to receive 2 mIU/minute of oxytocin that was increased at 30 minutes interval till adequate contraction pattern was achieved. The mean induction-delivery time was significantly shorter in the misoprostol group, [t=12.36, 4.69 and 6.067 for all women, women with intact membranes and women with premature rupture of membranes respectively]. The percentage of normal vaginal delivery was significantly higher in the misoprostol group, [X2 =10.6, 2.915 and 10.0 respectively]. The duration of the 3rd stage was significantly shorter for the misoprostol group, [t = 4.26, 2.019 and 0.928 respectively]. There was no significant difference between the two studied groups as regards abnormal fetal heart rate, the occurrence of hypertonus, the percentage of retained placenta and the occurrence of post-partum hemorrhage. Apgar score and neonatal admition to neonatal intensive care unit were not significantly different between the two studied groups. Oral misoprostol is superior over oxytocin in labor acceleration in both women with intact or rupture membranes

Unintended pregnancy with different outcomes among women attending El-Shatby Maternity Hospital in Alexandria

Unintended pregnancies are those conceived without desire. They may be unwanted or mistimed, yet wanted. Unintended births are of major public health concern, they have serious health, social and economic consequences. - To estimate the prevalence rate of unintended pregnancy among pregnant women attending El- Shatby Maternity Hospital in Alexandria. - To reveal some characteristics of women with unintended pregnancy. - To examine the relation between pregnancy intendedness and risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. A descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological approach was adopted. The target population was all pregnant women attending El- Shatby Maternity University Hospital in Alexandria for either abortion or delivery. The field work was carried out between February 1998 to August 1998. An interview questionnaire was used for collection of data. The results revealed that the prevalence rate of unintended pregnancy among the studied women was 68.98% [42.13% was for mistimed and 26.87% was for unwanted pregnancies]. The percent of unintended pregnancy increased significantly with age from 55.26% among the youngest women [15- < 25 years] to reach 87.88% among those aged 40- 49 years. Moreover, it also increased with the number of family surviving children. No statistical significant differences were observed between women with either intended or unintended pregnancies as regard rural- urban residence, educational level and work status. Regarding the contraceptive use prior to the index pregnancy, all the users didn't intend to become pregnant. On the other hand, it was revealed that more than one third of non contraceptive users [34.31%] didn't intend to become pregnant. Women with unintended pregnancies were significantly less likely to seek antenatal care and to breast feed their babies. When the risk of abnormal pregnancy outcome was quantified, it was observed that unintended pregnancy was a risk for abortion either spontaneous or induced, where OR = 1.375 and 8.25 respectively. The prevalence rate of unintended pregnancy was 68.98%. Unintended pregnancy was associated with increasing both the age of mothers and the number of their live births. Unintendedness of pregnancy was associated with increased risk of abortion as an adverse pregnancy outcome