Pregnant outcome in women over 41 gestational weeks

Objective To study the pregnant outcome of those women who were over 41 gesta tional weeks. Methods A retrospective study, including 2903 normal nulliparous women who had delivered between July 1,2002, and December 31,2004, was conducted. Totally, 461 cases of prolonged pregnancies were included. The rates of cesarean delivery, fetal distress, and neonatal asphyxia were compared between those over 41 weeks and the others. Results The rates of cesarean delivery (48. 81%) and fetal distress (43. 38%) in prolonged pregnant group were significantly increased than those of the others women(P0. 01), while the rate of the neonatal asphyxiad. 08%) showed no difference. A higher rate of cesarean delivery was found in the prolonged pregnant group than that of the spontaneous onset of labor in the induced women(P0. 01). The lower the Bishop score, the higher the rate of cesarean delivery. Conclusions Pregnancy over 41 weeks might increase the risk of intrauterine hypoxia and should be delivered. But for those wpmen at 41 weeks, induction with unfavorable cervix would result in dystocia, so it might be appropriate to wait for another 2-3 days to be induced if with unfavorable cervix or without urgent indication for induction.