Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study limitations (unclear allocation concealment and blinding ot the outcome assessment in half of the studies) and by indirectness (differences between the interventions of interest and those studied).
A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 5 studies with a total of 1 208 subjects. Four trials comparing laxative to placebo reported time to first bowel movement. In one trial, more women in the laxative group had their first bowel movement less than 24 hours after delivery compared to women in the placebo group (RR 2.90, 95% CI 2.24 to 3.75, n=471). Pooled results of two trials showed that fewer women in the laxative group were having their first bowel movement at day four compared with controls (average RR 0.36, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.61, n=671).
Date of latest search: 2020-09-12
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