Comparison of the effect of entonox gas and Sufentanil epidural anesthesia in labor pain on the umbilical cord blood gas analysis and neonatal apgar score

Today, the health of mothers and babies is of particular importance in health systems. So far, various interventions have been implemented to improve the health of pregnant mothers. The present study aimed to compare the effect of Entonox gas and Sufentanil epidural anesthesia in labor pain on the umbilical cord blood gas analysis and neonatal Apgar score.

The present study is a clinical trial on 800 pregnant women It was done in April 2020 to January 2022 at Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital. Mothers were divided into two groups: spinal anesthesia and the group receiving Entonox gas. To measure the effectiveness, Apgar scores were measured at 1 and 5 minutes along with BE, HCO3, and PCO2 parameters. Two independent sample t-tests and ANOVA were used in SPSS version 22 software to analyze the data.

The results of the study showed that the average age of mothers participating in the study was 27 years, and the average Apgar score of 1 and 5 minutes in the group of mothers receiving Entonox gas and spinal anesthesia was 9.9 and 8.6, respectively. Also, the average Apgar score at minutes 1 and 5 in the group of mothers with spinal anesthesia was 9.8 and 8.2, respectively. The results of the analysis and comparison of the parameters obtained from the arterial gases of the umbilical cord of newborns were not significantly different between both groups of mothers. Also, no significant difference was found in Apgar scores between both groups of mothers.

There is no significant difference between the effectiveness of using Entonox gas with spinal analgesia in the painless delivery of mothers; Therefore, considering the cost of each intervention along with their effect may cause a difference in the two interventions. This means that although both of the interventions have the same clinical and diagnostic effects, the one which costs less, will be more preferable from the point of view of the health system.