RESUMO
Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of Foley catheter (FC) and prostaglandins (PG) for cervical ripening used in labor induction of late pregnant women with unfavorable cervix. Methods Several databases including Cochrane Library,Embase,PubMed,Elsevier,Wanfang Medical Database, CNKI, VIP were searched for collecting the related literatures according to criteria for inclusion and exclusion.Meta analysis was performed by applying software Review Manager 5.2. Results Thirty randomized controlled trials were included.The FC group presented significantly lower risk of excessive uterine contraction [OR= 0.38,95%CI(0.19,0.75),P<0.05] than the PG group.There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of Cesarean section rate, vaginal delivery rate, Bishop score improvement, duration of induction to delivery, neonatal birth weight, or in neonatal outcome. Conclusion This study shows that FC has good promoting effect of cervical maturity and maternal￣ neonatal outcomes, and rarely produces excessive uterine contraction.It is safe and equally effective as PG does.The approach is easy to operate and worth to apply in clinical use.