Effect of Hypnosis on Pregnancy and Delivery Outcomes: A Systematic Review

There are various factors affecting mother’s feelings, pain, and excitement during pregnancy which play significant roles in making decision about terminating pregnancy and reducing its outcomes. This study aimed to systematically review the effect of hypnosis on pregnancy and childbirth outcomes.

In this systematic review, we thoroughly searched Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scientific Information Database (SID), Cochrane Library, Scopus, Magiran, Registry of Clinical Trial (IRCT), and ProQuest with no time limitations. After removing unrelated studies, 21 English articles were included. The quality of these articles was determined by Jadad Scale. Finally, 13 studies entered into our meta-analysis. To assess the heterogeneity, Q and I2 tests were used and STATA 11 was used for data analysis.

According to the findings, the effects of hypnosis on pregnancy and delivery outcomes were classified into six categories as the following: hypnosis decreases the consumption of pain relief medicines (OR=0.21, CI95%: 0.12- 0.38, P<0.001), it does not decrease the consumption of oxytocin (P=0.880), it does not decrease the rate of Cesarean section (P=0.082), it leads to higher rates of natural vaginal delivery (OR=3.06, CI95%:1.75-5.32, P<0.001), it does not decrease the rate of preterm labor (P=0.051), and it does not increase neonatal Apgar score (P=0.27). 

Hypnosis interventions can reduce the consumption of pain relief medicines, and also increase the rate of normal vaginal delivery.