The impact of non-pharmacological approaches on post-cesarean ileus: A critical review

Objective (s): 

This study aimed to critically evaluate published clinical trials on the effect of non-pharmacological approaches on post-cesarean ileus.

Non-pharmacological clinical trials on ileus after cesarean delivery were searched in Pubmed, Web of science, Scopus, Embase, ProQuest, SID, Magiran, Iranmedex databases. The key words: Cesarean Delivery, Ileus, Bowel Movements, Passing Gas, Defecation, Bowel Function and Non-Pharmacological Methods were used from 1/1/2011 to 9/25/2023.The Studies were evaluated by the CONSORT checklist of non-pharmacological interventions consisting of six sections, 25 questions and 44 items. SPSS2019 software was used for descriptive data analysis.

A total of 23 articles were critically evaluated. The following non-pharmacological methods were found: nine articles related to chewing gum (40%), five articles related to premature feeding after cesarean section (21%), three articles related to acupressure (13%), two articles related to drinking coffee (9%), one article on exercise (4.5%) and three articles on medicinal plants (13%). The compliance percentage of the articles with Consort criteria was 60% and their mean score was 27±4.4 ranging from 14 to 33. The most discrepancies were in the results and method sections.

The quality of clinical trials on non-pharmacological methods on ileus after cesarean delivery in the last 10 years was intermediate, which suggest the need for more attention by investigators using the standard checklists for reporting studies.