A new clinical trial has suggested that pregnant older women having their labor induced closer to their due date may not face elevated chances of requiring a cesarean section.

British researchers discovered that when older first-time moms had their labor induced in the 39th week of pregnancy, they didn’t face greater risk of a C-section or any kind of negative effects for themselves or their infants.

Medical experts working on the study, which appeared in the March 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, have suggested that labor induction is safer than doctors have previously thought.

However, the query is still there that whether there is any benefit of inducing labor when a woman has healthy pregnancy?

Dr. William Grobman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago said that there isn’t any clear proof that it is beneficial.

Grobman, who penned down an editorial that appeared with the study, said that it was quite an important study, but must not result into any major alteration in the practice.

Labor induction is officially recommended in some particular circumstances, like when a woman is suffering from a medical condition that is placing her or her baby in danger, or in case pregnancy surpasses 42 weeks. Normally, a full-term pregnancy comes to an end in nearly 40 weeks.

One can undergo labor induction for many nonmedical reasons, for example, in a case when a woman is living far from a hospital, but not before the 39th week of pregnancy, as per the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

Grobman said that the practice tested in the latest trial wasn’t standard. It was: “Trying labor induction in women who were relatively older -- age 35 and up -- and expecting their first baby, but who were having a healthy pregnancy”, Grobman added.