Effects of intravenous normal saline with and without dextrose on labour duration and delivey outcomes in nulliparous women

Effects of carbohydrate administration, either oral or intravenously, on the course of labor and its coseqences has been less studied. The objective of this study was to compare effects of intravenous normal saline with and without dextrose on length of labour and delivey outcomes in nulliparae.

This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 97 primiparous women who divided into normal saline (NS) and dextrsose 5% in normal saline (D5NS) groups. The solutions were injected intraveouly by a machine in rate of 120 ml/min and stages of parturition were monitored.

Of 97 subjects enrolled, 80 met inclusion criteria and completed the study.There was a significant difference in the time (min) to complete dilation between groups (NS: 291.5+89.38; D5NS:163.73+39.5) (P=0.000), and length of stage II labor (NS: 58.88+23.13; D5NS: 33.58+10.48) (P=0.000). There was a significant difference in terms of the need for oxytocin between two groups (P=0.019), but no significant differences were observed between two groups in terms of cesarean section rates, Apgar score at the one and five min after birth, and neonatal hypoxia in the first and two hours after birth.

Our findings indicate that intarvenous dextrose solution can reduce effectivly delivery time in nulliparous women.