A single-blind, parallel-group, randomized clinical research showed that Paracetamol, like Pethidine, is beneficial in lowering early-stage labor pain with fewer complications. Masoumeh Khammar et al. aimed to assess the efficacy of two analgesic agents on labor pain alleviation as well as fetal and maternal problems.

This research was carried out on 100 nulliparous pregnant females who were admitted to a maternity hospital and were randomly allocated into two groups: 49 to Paracetamol group getting 100 mg intravenous Paracetamol, and 51 to Pethidine group receiving 50 mg intravenous Pethidine using minimization approach. When there was at least 4-cm cervical dilatation, the medicines were given. Maternal complications, newborn Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes, and breastfeeding ability were all assessed.

Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to record pain intensity and assessed at 30 minutes, one, two, three, and four hours after medication delivery utilizing two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Regarding age, body mass index, and gestational age, no pronounced inter-group differences were reported. Additionally, no profound differences were found in pain intensity across time periods in any group. Compared to the Pethidine group, the Paracetamol group exhibited considerably reduced maternal complications. But, this difference was clinically meaningful only in terms of nausea.

The capacity of infants to breastfeed was considerably improved in Paracetamol group than Pethidine group. The findings of the two-way ANOVA revealed that the mean VAS score did not differ substantially between the two groups. Hence, the use of Paracetamol exhibited remarkable potential to mitigate labor pain identical to Pethidine, but with fewer complications for mother and neonate.