Epidural Anesthesia Prolongs Labor

A new study has found that epidural anaesthesia, which is given to women to relieve pain during labor, increases time taken for delivery.

Previous research has shown that women who take the drug take longer to deliver. However, the new study found that the wait might be longer than previous estimates.

The study, conducted by researchers at University of California, San Francisco, was based on data from 42,000 women in California who delivered vaginally between 1976 and 2008. About half of the women had taken epidural during the delivery.

Researchers looked at the length of second stage of labor- the part where the woman needs to push until the baby is delivered. They found that women who took the drug took two hours more to deliver than women who didn't use the drug.

About 61 percent of mothers who delivered a single child in 2008 took either an epidural or spinal anesthesia, according to data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Until now, the idea was that women on epidurals might take an extra hour to complete the second stage. The study shows that doctors need to wait for longer before carrying out an intervention such a Caesarean section, Reuters reported. 

"The effect of epidural can be longer than we think and as long as the baby looks good and the women are making progress, we don't necessarily have to intervene (and perform a Cesarean section) based on the passage of time," Dr. Yvonne Cheng at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and lead author of the study told Reuters Health.

The study is published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.