A Study of Low-dose Epidural Analgesia for the Laboring Obstetric Patients

Objective To evaluate the effect of epidural analgesia on laboring time and the mode of delivery.Mthods Thirty-seven pregnant women at term were given epidural analgesia from August to December of 2000,another thirty-seven patients of same term were chosen as the control group.The delivery time,delivery mode,infants' Apgar score,bleeding amount,oxytocin usage and hospitalized days were compared between them.Results The whole laboring time was longer in epidural analgesia group than that in the control group,the difference was significant.Apgar score of five minute was not different between two groups.The bleeding amount in epidural analgesia group was 324ml,in the control group it was 289ml,there was significant difference.The cesarean section rate in epidural analgesia group was 18.92 percent,in the other group it was 21.62 percent,there was no difference between them.There was also no difference between two groups in hospitalized days and antibody usage.Conclusion Low-dose epidural analgesia for the laboring is safe and effective.It can lower the cesarean section rate.The delivery time is longer but it is no bad effect on Apgar score and recovery after delivery.