Epidurals may lead to even longer labor

Epidural anesthesia, a shot used to relieve pain during delivery, may lead to longer labor for women than originally thought, according to a new study.

Specialist in maternal-fetal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and head of the study Dr. Yvonne Cheng compiled data from over 42,000 women from 1976 to 2008, with half of them undergoing delivery with an epidural and half of them without. Cheng and colleagues specifically were looking for the length of labor at its second stage in the 95 percentile.

Typically, women are told by doctors that epidural anesthesia will add about an hour to labor time during its second stage, at which point they are required to start pushing.

The results showed that for first-time deliverers, this second stage of labor lasted three hours and 20 minutes without an epidural and five hours and 40 minutes with the anesthesia. In comparison, women who had gone through childbirth before, who normally endure shorter labors than normal, underwent delivery for one hour and 20 minutes without the shot and four hours and 15 minutes with it.

Overall, the researchers concluded that labor lasts two hours longer at its second stage in the 95 percentile after receiving the epidural injection.

Although she was not involved in this study, Dr. Karin Fox, a maternal-fetal specialist with the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, conveyed to Reuters Health that delivery is different for every woman.

Dr. Cheng and her associates, based on their findings, write that this research, as well as previous data, seriously call into question what is defined as a typical labor time under epidural anesthesia, and that doctors should use this new information as a guideline for reform.

"All the experts in the field should get together to look at the evidence that's out there and come up with informed definitions," Cheng said.