While about 700,000 pregnant women with complications that could lead to early labor are advised to go on bed rest every year, experts have said there is little to no evidence that the practice leads to better outcomes, the Chicago Tribune reports. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said that "bed rest, hydration and pelvic rest does not appear to improve the rate of preterm birth and should not be routinely recommended." Further, a literature review from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2004 said that bed rest could have adverse effects on pregnant women and their families, as well as increase health care costs. While most doctors are aware of the lack of evidence supporting the practice, they prescribe it out of habit and some might do so out of fear of being held liable or being sued for malpractice, the Tribune reports.

Women who are prescribed "modified" bed rest must rest for one hour three times daily. Other women must be on bed rest all the time, meaning they cannot ride in a car, have sex, walk up stairs or do household chores. Supporters of the practice say it can prolong a pregnancy for a woman at risk of early labor, as well as decrease stress, increase blood flow to the uterus and decrease cervical pressure. Women with cervical insufficiency may benefit from bed rest and limited activity, but those types of problems occur in about 1% of all pregnancies and make up only 5% to 10% of all preterm births.

However, experts say that most preterm births occur in women without risk factors and that some women placed on bed risk experience atrophied muscles and report feeling achy, sluggish, isolated, helpless and dependent (Deardorff, Chicago Tribune, 1/29).

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