Asian Women Experience Less Pain In Labor

Main Category: Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 27 Oct 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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It is a fact known by every woman who has had a baby - the amount of pain experienced increases as labor progresses, but some women experience more pain during labor than others. A new study in the November issue of Anesthesiology further explores individual labor variables, reporting associations between ethnicity, and labor progress and pain.

"Labor progress and pain are influenced by many different factors, but are difficult to study because conditions during labor are continually changing," said Pamela Flood, M.D. "We created mathematical models to assess labor progression and pain in 500 women having their first babies. This technique has the benefit of allowing researchers to assess the labor experience for individual women, in addition to the responses of a group as is seen in this study. Ideally, in the future we can use this model to predict when and if a woman will be able to deliver vaginally."

About the Study

To test the contribution of key variables to the progress and pain of labor, Dr. Flood and colleagues from the Department of Anesthesia, Columbia University performed a retrospective study of delivery records from 500 patients from October 2006 to May 2008. The study consisted of 100 sequential deliveries from each of five patient reported ethnic groups: Asian, Black, Hispanic, Other and White. Using the labor progress model, the researchers were able to find significant associations between a patient's ethnicity, labor progress and the pain felt during labor.

Researchers also investigated the influence of demographic and treatment related variables including weight, height, maternal age, gestational age, birth weight, epidural or spinal analgesia, oxytocin administration, labor induction or rupture of membranes on labor progress and pain.

The Study's Findings

Testing the associations of ethnicity on labor progress and pain, researchers found that Asian women had slower active labor than other ethnicities. Asian women also reported less pain during their labor compared to all other patients studied even when their slower rate of labor progression was taken into account. Researchers also report that greater maternal weight was generally associated with slower active labor.

Dr. Flood added, "The ability to predict labor pain would be helpful to assist in the development of specific coping mechanisms during labor, helping each woman better know what to expect . More accurate expectations about labor pain and progress will help new mothers and their doctors to plan their treatment.

For more information, visit the journal Anesthesiology Web site at http://www.anesthesiology.org.

Source
American Society of Anesthesiologists

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