Factors Affecting the Duration of the First Stage of Labour

Original article

English

Mustafa Gawass , Lubna Maghur, Ramadan AlGantri, Fathia Baloz

Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Tripoli Medical Centre,Tripoli, Libya

JMJ Vol.7, No.3 (Autumn 2007):196-200

Abstract

Objective: To study factors affecting the first stage of labour mainly foetal weight, the state of membranes, the parity and the use of syntocinon. Setting: labour ward in the obstetric and gynaecology department at Tripoli Medical Centre, Material and method: a prospective study of 100 patients with singleton cephalic pregnancies during labour over two months. The information was taken from the partogram and the neonatal notes. Results: 48% of our patients were primigravida while the rest were multipara, The majority of new born babies (80%) had birth weight (2.5-4kg). The mean birth weight was 3.384kg (95% confidence interval for the mean 3.27-3.49), the lowest weight in our study population was 1.6kg and the largest baby was 4.8kg, the mean duration of labour for the patients was 3.11 hours with the shortest lasting 12 minutes and the longest lasting 11 hours. Our study showed a significant negative correlation between the duration of the first stage and the parity of the patients with a correlation coefficient (- 0.30/ using Spearman’s rho test) P < 0.01. The patients with ruptured membranes on admission also appeared to have shorter labours however the difference between both groups was insignificant using Mann-Whitney U test (P>0.1). Patients augmented with syntocinone had a longer labour than those without augmentation however the mode of delivery in both groups of patients was the same. Foetal weight was not a significant factor in the duration of the first stage. When studying the effect of labour on the neonate there was a significant negative relationship between the duration of the first stage and the Apgar score (P<0.001) Keywords: First stage, Labour, Factors Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1411