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Labour in Grandmultipara
Labour in Grandmultipara
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Columbia University
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Material and Methods test, when appropriate. For correlation analysis, Pearson correlation
coefficient was used. Statistical significance was determined at the
Data was collected from medical records retrospectively. The p ! 0.05 level.
investigation included files from 678 women, scheduled for vaginal
delivery during a 4-month period (November 1987–February 1988)
in the King Khaled Hospital (KKH), Najran, Saudi Arabia. The
Results
KKH is a modern hospital and the delivery unit is equipped with
facilities such as electronic fetal monitoring and ultrasonography. An
efficient outpatient unit with an antenatal clinic had been opened the The main characteristics of the women in the four
preceding year. Ultrasound screening to ascertain gestational age was groups are given in table 2. Thirteen (4.0%) of the women
not done. who delivered for the fifth time or more had a previous
A parity number was given to each delivered woman, not count-
ing the current delivery. The women were divided into four groups
according to their parity number: (1) nulliparas (NP) with no pre-
vious delivery; (2) low multiparas (LMP) with 1–3 previous deliver-
ies; (3) grand multiparas (GMP) with 4–8 previous deliveries and Table 1. Parity distribution in the four groups, 678 deliveries
(4) grand grand multiparas (GGMP) with 9 or more previous deliver-
ies. The distribution of women according to parity number is shown
Group Parity n Frequency Cum. freq. Number per
in table 1.
% % group (%)
Duration of labor was defined according to O’Driscoll and
Maegher [6] as the time the laboring mother spent in the delivery unit
NP 0 87 12.8 12.8 87 (12.8%)
from the time of admission until delivery of her infant. Labor infor-
mation was collected from the woman’s partogram, the routine labor LMP 1 97 14.3 27.1
recording method used by doctors and midwives. The first stage was 2 87 12.8 40.0
subdivided into two phases, latent phase and active phase. The latent 3 79 11.7 51.8 263 (38.8%)
phase was defined as the time from admission until the first measure-
GMP 4 72 10.6 62.4
ment of 4 cm cervical dilatation. The active phase was estimated
5 75 11.1 73.5
from first measurement of 4 cm cervical dilatation to complete cervi-
6 59 8.7 82.2
cal dilatation. The second stage of labor lasted from first measure-
7 34 5.0 87.2
ment of complete cervical dilatation to delivery of the baby. The
8 32 4.7 91.7 272 (40.1%)
third stage of labor was not included in this study. Protracted cervical
dilatation was present when dilatation rate was ! 1.2 cm/h. Second- GGMP 9 21 3.1 94.8
ary arrest of cervical dilatation was present when no dilatation was 10 24 3.5 98.6
recorded during 2 h or more. Failure of descent during the first stage 11 8 1.2 99.6
was present when the presenting part remained at or above the pelvic 12 1 0.1 99.7
inlet until an intervention was performed. 13 1 0.1 99.9
16 1 0.1 100 56 (8.3%)
Statistical Analyses
Differences in duration of labor were analyzed with the Mann- NP = Nullipara, LMP = low multipara, GMP = grand multipara,
Whitney U-test. Student’s t-test was used for comparisons of means. GGMP = grand grand multipara.
Differences in frequencies were assessed by ¯2-test or Fischer’s exact
Age, years, mean (BSD) 20.9 (4.6) 24.4 (4.4) 29.8 (4.6) 34.5 (5.5)
Previous cesarean delivery, n (%) 16 (6.1) 10 (3.7) 3 (5.4)
Artificial rupture of membranes, n (%) 11 (12.6) 26 (9.8) 35 (12.9) 7 (12.5)
Labor enhancement with oxytocin, n (%) 36 (41.4) 42 (15.6) 49 (18.1) 4 (7.1)
Spontaneous vaginal delivery, n (%) 67 (77.0) 247 (93.9) 252 (92.6) 50 (89.3)
Vacuum extraction or forceps, n (%) 14 (16.1) 5 (1.9) 6 (2.2) 1 (1.8)
VBAC frequency, n (%) 13 (81.3) 7 (70.0) 3 (100)
Cesarean section, n (%) 6 (6.9) 11 (4.2) 14 (5.2) 5 (8.9)
cesarean delivery. Ten of these women (76.9%) had a suc- LMP, GMP and GGMP, respectively. On admission,
cessful vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC). The there was no difference in mean cervical dilatation be-
total VBAC frequency after one previous cesarean section tween LMP, GMP and GGMP. Eighteen percent of the
was 22 out of 23 (95.7%). The cesarean section rates were GMP and GGMP mothers were admitted during the sec-
not significantly different in the three multiparous groups ond stage of labor, not significantly different from 20% in
(table 2). The overall cesarean section rate was 5.3%. the LMP group (fig. 1). In the GGMP, the presenting part
There were six repeat operations, while in 30 women the was more frequently positioned at or above the pelvic
cesarean delivery was the woman’s first operative de- inlet on admission than in GMP and LMP (p ! 0.05 and
livery. p ! 0.01, respectively) (fig. 2). Furthermore, on admis-
The phase of labor and the position of the presenting sion, the presenting part was seldom positioned at or
part, on admission, are shown in figures 1 and 2. In the below the spinal level (fig. 2) in both GMP and GGMP
multiparous groups, an equal number were admitted dur- compared to LMP (p ! 0.01 and p ! 0.05, respectively)
ing the latent phase of labor, namely 41, 37 and 39% for (fig. 2).
Normal first stage of labor, n (%) 44 (53.7)*** 204 (80.0) 197 (76.1) 32 (62.7)*
Active phase, h 5.0 (1.0–22.0)* 2.9 (0.1–24.0) 3.7 (0.1–25.5)* 4.7 (0.6–36.0)*
(min-max) n = 38 n = 105 n = 105 n = 18
Second stage of labor, h 0.5 (0.1–7.3)*** 0.2 (0.1–4.5) 0.2 (0.1–3.5) 0.2 (0.1–4.0)
(min-max) n = 56 n = 179 n = 185 n = 36
Duration of labor, h 5.8 (0.1–30.0)*** 2.0 (0.1–28.8) 2.3 (0.1–36.0) 3.1 (0.1–36.1)
(min-max) n = 87 n = 263 n = 272 n = 56
* p ! 0.05, ** p ! 0.01, *** p ! 0.001 vs. LMP group as determined by ¯2-test or by Mann-Whitney U-test.
Table 4. Obstetric outcome in 84 women with failure of descent of the presenting part during normal and dysfunc-
tional first stage labor
NP (n = 9) 3 5 1
LMP (n = 25) 13 1 2 1 5 3
GMP (n = 41) 17 3 3 2 14 2
GGMP (n = 9) 3 3 3
Total, % 36 (90.0) 4 (10.0) 5 (45.5) 6 (54.5)**,+ 27 (81.8) 6 (18.2)
** p ! 0.01 vs. normal first stage labor as determined by Fisher’s exact test.
+ p ! 0.05 vs. protracted cervical dilatation as determined by Fisher’s exact test.
In multiparous women, duration of the active phase of KKH, the women labored without any form of conduc-
labor and duration of labor increased by parity (rp = tion analgesia, no pain relief other than nitrous oxide and,
0.255, p ! 0.001 and rp = 0.122, p = 0.003, respectively). occasionally, opiates were offered. The husband or other
Oxytocin for labor enhancement was given to 16% of the relatives were not allowed to visit the labor room, conse-
LMP, 18% of the GMP and to 7% of the GGMP (table 2). quently, the mother’s emotional support was given by the
The differences were not significant. The mean birth midwife and the obstetrician.
weights of the infants are shown in table 5. The differ- The obstetric course of the GMP regarding duration
ences in mean birth weight between GGMP and LMP and and disturbances of labor has been scantily reported in
GGMP and GMP were statistically significant (p ! 0.01 previous studies. On the contrary, there are many reports
and p ! 0.05). Infants’ birth weight increased by parity on the NPs’ labor [1]. During the first delivery, there is an
(rp = 0.221, p ! 0.001). The woman who gave birth to her increased risk of dystocia and operative delivery as com-
17th baby delivered the heaviest infant in the study pared to the following three or four labors [1]. The present
(4,750 g). The stillbirth ratio was close to 1% in all four study indicates that after nine deliveries a woman re-
groups and 1.0% in all the 678 deliveries. sumes a similar risk of dystocia as during her first deliv-
ery. Sharfman and Silverstein [14] reviewed the files of
403 women with parity 7 or higher. In their group, 45%
Discussion were delivered within 6 h while in 23% labor exceeded
10 h. The corresponding finding in the present study was
During the last decades, an increased interest in the 74 and 14%, respectively. Evaldson [7] reported a total
GMP woman is mirrored in a number of articles address- frequency of disturbances during labor of 36.7% in primi-
ing this topic ‘the dangerous multipara’ [4, 5, 7–10]. Most paras, 22.2% in para 2–5 and 35.7% in para 6. The similar
of these studies have confirmed an increased risk of ane- frequencies for the NP and the GMP regarding dystocia
mia, hypertension, preeclampsia, placenta praevia, uter- are in agreement with the present study.
ine rupture, abnormal presentation and operative deliv- The GMP women were not admitted earlier or later
ery in pregnant women with high parity [4, 8, 10]. High during the first stage than the LMP. According to Hen-
parity has consequently been related to an increased neo- dricks et al. [15] and to Juntunen and Kirkinen [16], a
natal morbidity and perinatal mortality, often combined difference in duration of labor between NPs and GMPs
with low socioeconomic status and increasing age [11, 12]. lies mainly in the latent phase [15, 16] and the second
The present investigation was carried out in a rapidly stage [15] of labor. The present study indicates a differ-
developing country with no major economic problems ence in the active phase since this phase was longer in
where the government financially supported large fami- GMP and GGMP than in LMP but not significantly dif-
lies. Due to religious reasons, female smoking was pro- ferent from the NP. The mechanism behind this finding is
hibited and uncommon. Alcoholic beverages in any form not clear. Hypothetically, a reduced contractive force of
were not permitted. In Sweden, Lyrenäs et al. [13] found the myometrium in the GMP may follow after numerous
the mean age of the Swedish primipara to be 25.4 years. previous labors. In GMPs with protracted first stage
The mean age of the GMP (para 4–8) in the present study labor, the woman usually resumed normal progress after
was 29.8, only 4 years older. Socioeconomic factors and receiving intravenous fluid of glucose and, occasionally,
age can thus barely contribute to a major bias in the amniotomy. Secondary arrest of cervical dilatation, which
present study. The delivery unit equipment was compara- has been reported as a major cause of dystocia in nullipa-
ble to that found in western developed countries. In the rous women [1], was also more common in the GGMP
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