Re: Use of Evening Primrose oil

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message: Harvey S. Marchbein, M.D.: "Re: Rhogam injection during Pregnancy"
• Previous message: Christine: "Rhogam injection during Pregnancy"
• Next in thread: vicki: "Re: Use of Evening Primrose oil"
• Reply: vicki: "Re: Use of Evening Primrose oil"

FWIW (For What It's Worth - but this is the last time! :-) From now on you're all going to have to look them up. My typing fingers are bare to the bone %-) ), I didi a literature search on OBGYN.net Medline (free of charge to all). Came up with the following interesting article (abstract, actually) from a Mid-Wifery Journal 1999. Two things to note - 1) this was a retrospective study (looking back) and they are frought with statistical shortcomings 2) in the article they even call it "quasi-scientific" because it was not randomized, it was not controlled and it was not prospective (planned first and observed second, not the other way around).

Oral evening primrose oil: its effect on length of pregnancy and selected intrapartum outcomes in low-risk nulliparous women. J Nurse Midwifery 1999 May-Jun;44(3):320-4   (ISSN: 0091-2182)

Dove D; Johnson P [Find other articles with these Authors]

Birth Center: Holistic Women's Health Care, L. L. C., Wilmington, DE 19805, USA.

Evening primrose oil is widely used by many midwives to hasten cervical ripening in an effort to shorten labor and decrease the incidence of postdates pregnancies. Although its efficacy has been studied in the relief of symptoms of a number of medical conditions, its use has not been well studied, if at all, for the purpose of cervical ripening.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of oral evening primrose oil on the length of pregnancy and selected intrapartum outcomes in low-risk nulliparous women. A two group retrospective quasi-experimental design conducted on a sample of women who received care in a birth center, compared selected outcomes of 54 women taking evening primrose oil in their pregnancy with a control group of 54 women who did not.

Findings suggest that the oral administration of evening primrose oil from the 37th gestational week until birth does not shorten gestation or decrease the overall length of labor. Further, the use of orally administered evening primrose oil may be associated with an increase in the incidence of prolonged rupture of membranes, oxytocin augmentation, arrest of descent, and vacuum extraction.

What do y'all think?

HSM

--
Harvey S. Marchbein, M.D. FACOG, FACS
Great Neck, New York

**Note:  Opinions expressed here are for educational purposes only
and, as such, do not constitute a physician-patient relationship.
This information is not intended to supplant the need for you to
consult with your physician prior to choosing therapeutic options
and/or interventions.

**Private emails cannot be entertained due to time constraints,
consequently no private emails will receive a response.

**Thank you for your understanding ;-)

• Next message: Harvey S. Marchbein, M.D.: "Re: Rhogam injection during Pregnancy"
• Previous message: Christine: "Rhogam injection during Pregnancy"
• Next in thread: vicki: "Re: Use of Evening Primrose oil"
• Reply: vicki: "Re: Use of Evening Primrose oil"