Giving Viagra pills to pregnant women during labor may reduce the risk that they will need an emergency Caesarean section, a study has found.
The risk of fetal distress was also lower among women who received the little blue pills.
Sildenafil citrate (the generic name of the drug sold as Viagra) works on erectile dysfunction by widening blood vessels and increasing blood flow.
Researchers believe it should also increase uterine blood flow in pregnant women, ensuring more oxygen reaches the fetus, so they conducted a trial with 208 subjects.
Half of the women were given up to three doses of Viagra during labour, while the others were given a placebo pill. In the Viagra group, 13 of the 104 women needed an emergency caesarean section. In the control group, 27 women (more than twice as many) underwent emergency surgery.
Researchers have found that giving pregnant women sildenafil citrate can reduce the risk of them needing an emergency caesarean section (file image)
A study by Guilan University of Medical Sciences believes it should also increase uterine blood flow in pregnant women, ensuring more oxygen reaches the fetus.
“Our results show that sildenafil is an effective and safe intervention to prevent fetal distress and reduce the need for emergency cesarean section during labor,” said obstetricians and gynecologists from Guilan University of Medical Sciences in Iran.
The results of their clinical trial have now been published in the Journal of Reproduction and Infertility.
They said “larger trials are urgently needed to further validate these results and establish their widespread use in labor management.”
Their results echo a similar 2019 Australian study of 300 women, which also found a “very promising” 50 percent reduction in the number of emergency surgeries among women who took Viagra during childbirth.
Fetal distress can occur when the fetus does not receive enough oxygen. According to researchers, it is the cause of 22 percent of emergency caesarean sections performed during childbirth in the UK.
There is a risk of complications with C-sections, including infections, blood clots, and damage to nearby areas, such as the bladder.