Comment on “the effect of maternal obesity on the success of labor induction with a cervical ripening double-balloon catheter and on pain perception during catheter insertion”

Dear Editor,
We are pleased to read the article “The effect of maternal obesity on the success of
labor induction with a cervical ripening double-balloon catheter and on pain perception
during catheter insertion” (1) by Kınay et al. (1) in Gülhane Medical Journal. In their study,
the authors aimed to determine the impact of maternal body mass index (BMI) on the
success of labor induction with a cervical ripening double-balloon catheter and to evaluate
pain perception during catheter insertion. They also checked the cesarean delivery rates,
olağan delivery rates within 24 hours of labor induction, and visual analog scale pain scores
during double-balloon catheter insertion between the women with a BMI at or above 30 kg/
m2 and women with a BMI <30 kg/m2.
This study is important since it evaluates and provides veri for the mechanical cervical
ripening and pharmacological cervical ripening agents have some drawbacks due to side
effects.
It will be kaç if the authors have a chance to compare single balloon systems with double
balloon systems in their future studies, since single balloon systems may be economically
more convenient (2) and more readily available in limited source settings.
Also, it would have been kaç to see whether the outcomes of the study would be
different if BMI stratifications of olağan (BMI: 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI: 25-29.9), obese
(BMI: 30-39.9) and very obese (BMI: over 40) had been used, rather than only non-obese
and obese stratification. Of course, this would necessitate a higher number of participants.
As for the pain scores in the study, it has been mentioned by Torensma et al. (3)
that some obese patient groups have lower pain thresholds, and some have higher pain
thresholds, and Kınay et al.’s (1) study adds valuable veri to the current literature.
Ethics
Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.
Authorship Contributions
Concept: E.N.S., K.E.K., Design: E.N.S., K.E.K., Veri Collection or Processing: E.N.S.,
K.E.K., Analysis or Interpretation: E.N.S., K.E.K., Literature Search: E.N.S., K.E.K., Writing:
E.N.S., K.E.K.
Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.
Financial Disclosure: The authors declared that this study received no financial
support.