• Britt-Ingjerd Nesheim and Ragnhild Kinge.
• Department of Obstetrics, Ullevaal University Hospital, University of Oslo, Norway. brittin@medisin.uio.no
• Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2006 Jan 1;85(4):441-3.

BackgroundThree randomized controlled trials have shown that acupuncture during labor can reduce the use of epidural analgesia and meperidine. To supplement these trials, we have designed an observational study to answer the research question: "Do laboring women in a normal hospital setting who receive acupuncture require less epidural analgesia than those who do not receive acupuncture?"MethodsSettingDelivery ward of a tertiary care University hospital in Norway.SubjectsAll attempted vaginal labors during the period 01.12.99-31.12.03 (n = 17,741).Statistical AnalysisMultivariate logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe dependent variable in the regression analysis was use of epidural analgesia. The independent variables were: use of acupuncture, use of nitrous oxide, use of meperidine, parity, ethnicity, age, duration of pregnancy, type of labor (induced or not), and duration of first stage of labor. In the multivariate analysis the odds ratio for having an epidural was 0.6 (95% CI 0.5-0.7) for the patients having acupuncture compared to those not having acupuncture.ConclusionsWomen having acupuncture as labor analgesia in the clinical setting have a reduced use of epidural analgesia.

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