For pregnant women, epidural analgesia appears to be a promising and reliable approach for pain alleviation.

A prospective cohort study was carried out to determine the effect of epidural analgesia during delivery on infant and maternal outcomes.

Overall, 159 pregnant females were randomly segregated into the no analgesia group (n=79) and epidural analgesia group (n=80). For comparing differences between study groups, adverse events, duration of labor, levels of umbilical arterial blood gas [partial pressure oxygen and pH], and visual analogue scale (VAS) were estimated.

The duration of 1st  stage of labor was reduced in total stage and 1st stage of labor in epidural analgesia arm in comparison with the no analgesia arm. Notably, the 2nd  and 3rd  stages of labor, 1 min Apgar score in infants, and umbilical arterial blood gas levels were comparable in both groups. Following adjustment of age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, and present and past case history, the VAS was reduced in the epidural analgesia arm vs. no analgesia arm when the uterine orifice was fully open [odds ratio (OR)=0.001], 24 hours after delivery (OR=0.321), and 8 hours after delivery (OR=0.508).

Epidural analgesia reduced the percentage of adverse events occurring 24 hours post-delivery (χ2=4.750), and raised the percentage of adverse events occurring 5 min post-delivery (χ2=10.137).

Hence, the use of epidural analgesia may be beneficial to reduce labor-associated pain in pregnant females.