Effectiveness of Castor Oil in Preventing Formal Induction of Labour in a Tertiary Institution

Background: Pregnancy extending beyond 42 week is attended by maternal and perinatal complication including death. It is the commonest reason for induction of labour. Various agents have been used to induce labour but it is not without maternal and fetal side effects. Alternative agents such as castor oil have been widely used in clinical practice for induction of labour without any concrete evidence of effectiveness. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of castor oil in the prevention of formal induction of labour amongst pregnant mothers at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki as well as to evaluate the possible maternal and fetal/ neonatal effects. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial among pregnant women at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki to verify the effectiveness of castor oil in the prevention of formal induction of labour at gestational ages between 41weeks and 0 days and 41 weeks and 2 days. One arm received 30ml of castor oil (Group A) and the other arm received 30ml of water (Group B). These doses were repeated once more after 24 hours if the patients failed to enter spontaneous labour. The data obtained was analyzed using IBM SPSS software (version 24, Chicago II, USA) and the intention to treat concept. A difference with a P value of ≤ 0.05 was taken to be of statistical significance.