Effect of Intrapartum Fever Associated With Epidural Analgesia on Short-Term Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes in Nulliparous Women: A Case Control Study

Abstract

BackgroundThe effects of intrapartum fever associated with epidural analgesia in nulliparous women on the short-term maternal and neonatal outcomes are not well understood.Methods We included 2076 nulliparous women who received regular obstetric examination and gave birth at Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020. All cases were singleton full-term pregnancies, and all foetuses were in cephalic presentation. We allocated 817 women with temperature >38℃ during labour into the fever group and 1259 women with temperature ≤38℃ during labour to the non-fever group. The short-term maternal and neonatal outcomes in the two groups were compared. Results in the fever group, 8.3% of pregnant women converted to caesarean delivery. The conversion rate in the non-fever group was 5.2% (p = 0.004). The rates of mild neonatal asphyxia, severe neonatal asphyxia, and neonatal hospitalisation in the fever group were higher than those in the non-fever group (χ2 = 12.070, 6.325, and 6.821, respectively, all P<0.05). The 1194 pregnant women in the fever group who had vaginal deliveries spent 756.46 ± 256.43 minutes in the first stage of labour and 65.74 ± 47.63 minutes in the second stage, significantly longer than the 749 women who had vaginal deliveries in the non-fever group (P<0.001, P=0.001). The assisted delivery rate for vaginal delivery in the fever group was 49.0%, significantly higher than that in the non-fever group (2=49.738, P<0.001). The rates of mild neonatal asphyxia, severe neonatal asphyxia, neonatal acidosis, and neonatal hospitalisation with vaginal delivery in the fever group were higher than those in the non-fever group (2=15.375, 6.597, 22.265, and 7.322, respectively, and p<0.001, 0.010, <0.001, and 0.007, respectively).Conclusions Epidural analgesia-associated intrapartum fever in nulliparous women increased the rates of short-term adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes, indicating that efforts are needed to prevent incidence of intrapartum fever due to administration of epidural analgesia.