• J Fernández-Guisasola, C Delgado Arnáiz, G Rodríguez Caravaca, M L Serrano Rodríguez, S García del Valle, and J I Gómez-Arnau.
• Area de Anestesia, Reanimación y Cuidados Críticos, Unidad de Anestesia-Reanimación, Fundación Hospital Alcorcón, Madrid. jfguisasola@fhalcorcon.es
• Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim. 2005 Apr 1;52(4):217-21.

ObjectiveTo study the relation between epidural analgesia and the development of maternal fever during labor and childbirth, and to determine the possible relation between that association and neonatal welfare and in the performance of tests to rule out sepsis in newborns.Patients And MethodsProspective study of all women who gave birth at Fundación Hospital Alcorcón over a period of 3 years. All the women were offered epidural analgesia based on infusion of 0.0625% bupivacaine and 2 microg x mL(-1). Data collected were age, nulliparity, epidural analgesia infusion, induction of labor, uterine stimulation with oxytocin, type of birth, fetal weight, duration of dilation and expulsion, Apgar score (at 1 and 5 minutes), umbilical artery pH, and maternal temperature.ResultsData for 4364 women were analyzed. Fever developed during labor in 5.7%; 93.7% of the fevers occurred in women receiving epidural analgesia (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that independent risk factors for the development of fever were epidural analgesia (odds ratio [OR], 1.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-3.04), nulliparity (OR, 2,929; 95% CI, 2.005-4.279), fetal weight (OR, 1.484; 95% CI, 1.102-2.001), and duration of labor (OR, 1.003; 95% CI, 1.003-1.004). No significant differences in Apgar score at 5 minutes or umbilical artery pH were found between the women with and without fever. Tests to rule out sepsis were ordered for 85.1% of the infants of mothers with fever after epidural analgesia.ConclusionsEpidural analgesia was associated with greater risk of developing fever in mothers giving birth, but that association had no repercussion on the neonatal wellness parameters studied.

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