Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to know the effects of epidural analgesia when given early vs late in labour depending upon cervical dilatation in primigravida pregnant labouring women, on the phases of labour, interventional labour and the necessity for cesarean delivery. Methods: Number of patients enrolled in the study were 100 which were divided into early epidural group (EEG) i.e.<=4cm and late epidural group (LEG) i.e. >4cm depending upon the cervical dilatation at which patients requested for painless delivery. Out of 100 patients, 68 patients were grouped under EEG and 32 patients were grouped into LEG. Results: In the evaluation of obstetrical data, it was stated that the first phase of labour is longer in the EEG as compared to LEG but the difference was not significant statistically. The active phase is almost same and the second phase is significantly longer in the groups we provided epidural analgesia late in comparison with the early group. However, this statistically significant extension of time in the second phase was within acceptable limits for second phase. There was no significant difference regarding the mode of delivery between the two groups with almost similar incidence of caesarean and instrumental deliveries. Conclusion: With the present study it was concluded that it is unnecessary to delay the epidural analgesia application waiting for the cervical dilatation to proceed, in case that the labour pain comes up the visual analog scale (VAS) values (≥3). Therefore maternal request is always a sufficient indication for providing epidural analgesia irrespective of cervical dilatation.