The Effect of Normal Saline Compared to Dextrose-Saline Infusion on the Duration of Active Phase of Loabor in Nulliparous Women: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Prolonged labor increases adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Very few interventions are known to shorten labor duration. The present study was performed with aim to evaluate the effect of intravenous dextrose-saline infusion compared with intravenous normal saline infusion on the duration of the active phase of labor in nulliparous women.

In this double-blind randomized clinical trial (blinding of patients and data analyst), which was performed in 2020-2021, 60 nulliparous women in the active phase of labor who had referred to the teaching hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were randomized by block randomization method and allocated to two groups of receiving normal saline at a rate of 150cc per hour and dextrose at 5% saline at the same rate. The primary outcome was evaluating the duration of the active phase of the labor. Secondary outcomes included the duration of second phase of labor and the rate of cesarean section, maternal and neonatal outcomes. Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software (version 25) and Chi-square tests and Fisher's exact test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The basic variables were similar in the two groups. The active phase of labor and the second stage of labor was statistically lower in saline dextrose compared to the normal saline group (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rate of cesarean section, the need for oxytocin, maternal complications, first and fifth minutes Apgar score, neonatal complications and the need for NICU (P> 0.05).

It seems that the use of dextrose-containing solutions in nulliparous women during labor shortens the duration of labor compared to normal saline.