Skip to main content

Table 4 Obstetric pain relief and postpartum assessments of the experience of labour pain (%)

From: Acupuncture with manual and electrical stimulation for labour pain: a longitudinal randomised controlled trial

 

MA

EA

SC

MA vs. SC1

EA vs. SC1

EA vs. MA1

 

n = 83

n = 87

n = 83

OR (CI) 2

OR (CI) 2

OR (CI) 3

Pain relief

      

Nitrous oxide

95.1

95.4

93.8

1.89 (0.43-8.37)

1.52 (0.39-5.96)

0.80 (0.17-3.75)

Sterile water injections

12.2

4.7

10.0

1.15 (0.42-3.14)

0.40 (0.11-1.40)

0.35 (0.10-1.17)

TENS

14.5

12.6

48.1

0.17 (0.77-0.37)

0.16 (0.73-0.34)

0.94 (0.38-2.33)

Morphine

9.6

1.1

4.8

2.3 (0.64-8.0)

0.23 (0.25-2.1)

0.10 (0.01-0.85)

Epidural analgesia

61.4

46.0

69.9

0.62 (0.32-1.20)

0.35 (0.19-0.67)

0.57 (0.31-1.06)

Women’s assessments postpartum

      

Pain worse than expected4

51.9

54.4

65.8

0.54 (0.27-1.05)

0.63 (0.33-1.23)

1.19 (0.62-2.26)

Sufficient pain relief4

76.6

81.0

73.7

1.31 (0.61-2.84)

1.68 (0.77-3.68)

1.28 (0.58-2.84)

Will choose the same treatment again4

60.9

68.0

   

1.14 (0.55-2.36)

Acupuncture effective for reducing pain5

44.4

67.1

   

2.44 (1.23-4.82)

Acupuncture effective for relaxation5

58.6

72.7

   

1.72 (0.84-3.52)

  1. 1Analysed by appropriate method (see Methods) and adjusted for age and education. SC = Standard Care MA = manual acupuncture EA = Electro-acupuncture OR = Odds Ratio CI = 95% Confidence interval SD = Standard Deviation TENS = Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation 2SC is reference 3MA is reference 4Day after partus 5Immediately after partus.