Effects of Digital Vaginal Examination During Labor on Pain and Anxiety Levels

Ankara University

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Obstetric Labor; Pregnancy

Treatments: Other: Digital vaginal examination; Device: Transperineal ultrasound examination

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02599610

006

Details and patient eligibility

About

Digital vaginal examination is the most common method for assessing progress of labor and delivery. Considering it is the most common intervention women receive during course of labor, evidence for psychological effects of digital vaginal examination on women is surprisingly sparse. Reducing the number of vaginal examination during labor has been proposed by many authors as benefit of more vaginal examination is unclear. However this is unlikely to happen until more research on the topic demonstrates clear detrimental effects of vaginal examination.

Our study is aimed at investigating association of vaginal examination with psychological distress of women during labor. Anxiety during labor is associated with longer labor duration, increased perception of pain, problems with newborn attachment, and increased rates of postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In this study, women were assigned to either digital vaginal examination or transperineal ultrasound assessment groups were compared to each other in a randomised controlled setting.

Enrollment: 40 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Multiparous women
• Spontaneous active labor
• Cephalic presentation

Exclusion criteria

• Women with known psychiatric disorders
• Labor induction
• Advanced labor during admission (Dilatation greater than 7cm)
• Presence of a prenatally diagnosed anomaly in fetus
• Admission to neonatal intensive care unit after delivery
• Delayed hospital discharge due to excessive weight loss of neonate

Trial design

40 participants in 2 patient groups

Digital vaginal examination

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients assigned to this group will be followed-up with digital vaginal examinations as described in intervention protocol.

Treatment:

Other: Digital vaginal examination

Transperineal ultrasound examination

Experimental group

Description:

Patients assigned to this group will be followed-up with transperineal ultrasound examinations as described in intervention protocol.

Treatment:

Device: Transperineal ultrasound examination