Does epidural analgesia delay the vaginal delivery of nulliparous women compared with non-epidural analgesia?: Retrospective observational study

경막외 진통은 비경막외 진통에 비해 초산부의 분만을 지연시키는가?: 후향성 관찰 연구

We conduct this study to compare the difference in duration of labor in nulliparous women received epidural analgesia or non-epidural analgesia for labor pain. This retrospective, observational study based on the review of the medical records from February 2014 to July 2017. Epidural analgesia was initiated with a 10 mL epidural bolus of 1% lidocaine and was maintained with a 0.1% mixture of ropivacaine with fentanyl. Non-epidural analgesia was initiated with pethidine 12.5 mg bolus, followed by additional boluses as needed. The primary outcome was the duration of the labor. 149 healthy nulliparous women at term pregnancies with no evidence of fetal distress were enrolled in this study. 92 women received non-epidural analgesia (Group NE) and 57 women received epidural analgesia (Group E). There were no significant differences between the two groups in maternal demographic characteristics. Using a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, there was no significant difference in the overall duration of the labor(P=0.233). The duration of the first stage of labor was $187.6{\pm}167.3min$ in Group NE, $248.6{\pm}168.7min$ in Group E (Mean${\pm}$SD, P=0.032). The duration of the second stage of labor was $67.1{\pm}57.8min$ in Group NE, $64.1{\pm}47.5min$ in Group E (Mean${\pm}$SD, P=0.693). Epidural analgesia delayed the first stage of labor in this study. But there were no significant differences between the two groups in the duration of the second stage and the total duration of labor.