Acupuncture Research

WOMEN'S HEALTH

Performance of acupuncture as labor analgesia in the clinical setting

Nesheim BI, Kinge R.

Department of Obstetrics, Ullevaal University Hospital, University of Oslo. Oslo. Norway.

Background. Three randomized controlled trials have shown that acupuncture during labor can reduce the use of epidural analgesia and meperidine. To supplement these trials, we have designed an observational study to answer the research question: "Do laboring women in a normal hospital setting who receive acupuncture require less epidural analgesia than those who do not receive acupuncture?"

Setting: Delivery ward of a tertiary care University hospital in Norway.

Subjects: All attempted vaginal labors during the period 01.12.99-31.12.03 (n=17,741).

Statistical analysis: Multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results. The dependent variable in the regression analysis was use of epidural analgesia. The independent variables were: use of acupuncture, use of nitrous oxide, use of meperidine, parity, ethnicity, age, duration of pregnancy, type of labor (induced or not), and duration of first stage of labor. In the multivariate analysis the odds ratio for having an epidural was 0.6 (95% CI 0.5-0.7) for the patients having acupuncture compared to those not having acupuncture.

Conclusions. Women having acupuncture as labor analgesia in the clinical setting have a reduced use of epidural analgesia.