The Effect of Entonox on Labor Pain and Outcome of Delivery in Primiparous in Iranshahr, Iran (2009)

Labor pain is a severe pain and the most well-known one. When the pain is not relieved, it leads to some adverse effects such as the increase of cardiac output, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen consumption, and catecholamine levels. All of them can have a harmful effect on both mother and infant. Pain during labor is accompanied by fear, which makes slow the progress of labor. In many countries, because the side effects of the drugs can cause adverse effects on women and their infants, analgesic medications may not be given. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Entonox on labor pain and outcome of delivery in primiparous women in Iranshahr, Iran (2009). In this study, in order to determine the effect of Entonox on labor pain and outcome of delivery, 100 primiparous women were randomly assigned to two equivalent groups (n = 50): case and control group. Data were collected by a questionnaire. Labor pain was measured seven times by using a (visual-analogue scale). The length of delivery time was calculated in two stages: from four centimeter cervical dilatation to full cervical dilatation, and from full cervical dilatation to the delivery. There is a significant difference between the severity of the pain in two groups (P<0.05), But there is no significant difference between the duration of the active phase and the second phase of the labor. There is no significant difference between the first and fifth minute Apgar Scoring between two groups (P<0.05). No atony is observed in the subjects. Sixty-six percent of case group and 42% of control group express that they have satisfaction from their delivery. The findings suggest that Entonox can be effective intervention to decrease pain during labour.