Most of us view calcium carbonate chewable tablets, better known by the brand name Tums, as an antacid treatment for heartburn. However, those same ingredients of calcium and carbonate also appear to have an effect on uterine contractility.
This indicates a possibility that, for those experiencing a slow or long childbirth — labor dystocia in clinical terms — over-the counter calcium carbonate might serve to help move the vaginal delivery process forward. Labor dystocia is the most common contributor to unplanned cesarean section in the United States.
In the article “Calcium carbonate as a potential intervention to prevent labor dystocia,” now published in Volume 10, Issue 3 of Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews (JPCRR), clinician-researchers at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee reviewed the literature to compile all reported evidence on the use of calcium carbonate during labor. Not finding any directly applicable data, they instead reviewed studies on the body’s mechanistic response to taking calcium or carbonate.
“Based on the physiological effects previously demonstrated by each ingredient independently, oral calcium carbonate’s potential to prevent labor dystocia is worth evaluating in sufficiently powered randomized controlled trials,” summarized Emily Malloy, PhD, CNM, a certified nurse midwife for Aurora Sinai and senior author of the article. “We theorize that calcium carbonate may be a low-risk and promising preventive measure for decreasing the rate of cesarean section.”
Volume 10, Issue 3
Other articles appearing in the latest issue of JPCRR include:
- Interpreting P Values in 2023;
- Proactive disease management using a COVID Virtual Hospital in a rural community;
- Previous health care experiences’ influence on health care perceptions among residents of six homeless shelters in Seattle;
- Identifying patient perceptions of inequality in public health care services in India;
- Examining racial disparities in unemployment among health care workers before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; and
- Proceedings from HCSRN 2023, the annual conference of the Health Care Systems Research Network.
Impact Factor
In breaking news, the data analytics company Clarivate recently unveiled its annual Journal Citation Reports metrics, which include Journal Impact Factor™ (JIF) ratings for all journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. JIF is designed to measure the scholarly impact of peer-reviewed publications. In its first year of eligibility, JPCRR earned a JIF of 1.7, well above the median of 0.4 for a grouping of comparable journals.
Published by Advocate Aurora Research Institute, the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews is a PubMed-indexed medical journal dedicated to scholarly works aimed at improving patient-centered care practices, health outcomes and patient experiences. Quarterly JPCRR circulation exceeds 30,000 readers hailing from around the world.
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About Advocate Aurora Research Institute
Advocate Aurora Research Institute is a not-for-profit, limited liability company of Advocate Aurora Health. Advocate Aurora has emerged as a national destination for patient-centered bench, translational and clinical research, and the Research Institute unifies the innovative research efforts throughout the health system. Advocate Aurora researchers focus on rapidly translating new discoveries from the scientist’s bench to the patient’s bedside and into the community we serve to improve options and outcomes that change not only the lives of individuals, but transform the health of populations.