Upright Position During First Stage of Labour

Effect of Upright Position During First Stage of Labour On Labour Outcome: An Evidence Based Approach

There are several physiological advantages for being upright during labour. These include the effect of gravity on the fetus within the uterus; reduced risk of aorto-caval compression this maximizes uterine blood flow to the placenta and fetus during labour and more efficient contractions which lead to shorter first and second stage of labor. In addition, being upright during labour provide better alignment of the fetus; and increased pelvic outlet when the woman is in squatting and kneeling positions

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Effects of Movement
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: assumed upright position during first stage of labor

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Egypt
  • Cairo, Egypt, 11553
    • Faculty of Nursing Cairo University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years to 31 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primipara parturient women who admitted to delivery unit;
• in early active phase of 1st stage of labor (not more than 4cm),
• age between 20-35 years,
• had a single, viable, and full term (≥ 37 weeks),
• with normal fetal heart rate pattern (120-160 b/min),
• fetus in occipto anterior position
• free from medical or obstetrical disorders that may interrupt labor progress

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any women out of inclusion criteria

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: study arm; assumed upright position during first stage of labor	Other: assumed upright position during first stage of labor; The study group assumed one of upright positions during first stage of labor, defined as walking , sitting, standing, kneeling & squatting positions )
No Intervention: control arm; hospital routine care

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intensity of labor pain assessed by Visual analogue pain intensity scale	Assessment of labor pain assessed by VAS (Visual analogue pain intensity scale ).It is a self-reported 10 cm horizontal line which represented the subjective estimation of pain intensity. It comprised 0-10-point numerical scale, No pain (0), Mild pain (< 4), Moderate pain (4-6), Sever pain (7-10).	during the procedure
duration of first stage of labor	upright position may decrease the duration of first stage of labor	during the procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
duration of second stage of labor	upright position may decrease the duration of second stage of labor	immediately after intervention
fetal outcome	fetal well being through fetal heart rate assessment assessed by CTG (cardio toco graph ) machine	during the procedure
Neonatal outcome	neonatal condition after delivery assessed by a standardized APGAR score tool by allocating scores to five simple criteria Activity (Muscle tone), Pulse (Heart rate), Grimace (reflex irritability) Appearance (Skin color) & Respiratory effort (breathing). A total score (0-3) revealed sever neonatal distress, (4-7) indicated moderate distress & (8-10) indicated absence of difficulty in adjusting to extra uterine live.	immediately after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Cairo University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 2, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 27, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): March 27, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 19, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 23, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): May 26, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 26, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 23, 2022
• Last Verified: May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: First stage of labor; Upright position; Labor outcomes
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2014

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No