A comparison of maternal and neonatal outcomes between water immersion during labor and conventional labor and delivery

Table 2 Intra- and postpartum outcomes of 80 subjects that had vaginal deliveries

Variables	Water Immersion (n = 33)	Conventional Labor (n = 47)	p-value
Duration of labor, min
First stage	596.55 ± 249.71	552.30 ± 241.85	0.429
Second stage	58.79 ± 31.37	56.04 ± 35.15	0.720
Third stage	10.88 ± 6.14	9.94 ± 5.24	0.463
Total	666.55 ± 259.70	618.32 ± 252.30	0.408
Bleeding, mL
Intrapartum	188.79 ± 107.03	205.32 ± 152.37	0.593
24 h postpartum	324.39 ± 125.84	367.02 ± 239.72	0.353
VAS pain score
Cervical dilation of 3 cm^a	10 (7 , 10)	10 (8 , 10)	0.776
30 min after cervical dilation of 3 cm^b	6 (5 , 8)	10 (9 , 10)	<.001^*
60 min after cervical dilation of 3 cm^c,d	7 (6 , 8)	10 (10, 10)	<.001^*
Pelvic floor dysfunction
SUI symptoms during pregnancy	6 (18.2)	15 (31.9)	0.169
SUI symptoms 42 days postpartum	2 (6.1)	12 (25.5)	0.035^*
POP 42 days postpartum	8 (24.2)	12 (25.5)	0.896
Pelvic floor muscle strength 42 days postpartum			0.766
0	3 (9.1)	4 (8.5)
1	6 (18.2)	8 (17.0)
2	11 (33.3)	15 (31.9)
3	12 (36.4)	18 (38.3)
4	1 (3.0)	2 (4.3)

VAS, visual analogue scale; SUI, stress urinary incontinence; POP, pelvic organ prolapse.
Continuous data were summarized as mean ± standard deviation (SD) for normally distributed data and median (interquartile range [IQR]) for non-normally distributed data; categorical data were summarized as number (percentage).
^aExperimental group, VAS evaluation when cervical dilation of 3 cm before entering the tub; conventional group, VAS evaluation when cervical dilation of 3 cm.
^bExperimental group, VAS evaluation 30 min after cervical dilation of 3 cm and in the tub; conventional group, VAS evaluation 30 min after cervical dilation of 3 cm.
^cExperimental group, VAS evaluation 60 min after cervical dilation of 3 cm and in the tub; conventional group, VAS evaluation 60 min after cervical dilation of 3 cm.
^dComplete data were not available for 12 subjects (5 in water immersion group and 7 in conventional labor group) due to the subject leaving the water tank or completing delivery.
*p < 0.05, indicates statistically significant difference between groups.

ISSN: 1471-2393