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Epidural Analgesia and Perinatal Retinal Haemorrhages
Author(s) -
Maltau J. M.,
Egge K.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1980.tb01515.x
Subject(s) - medicine , retinal , incidence (geometry) , anesthesia , surgery , ophthalmology , optics , physics
The incidence and magnitude of retinal haemorrhages in a group of neonates delivered spontaneously (n = 50), whose mothers received epidural analgesia during labour, has been compared to those of a spontaneously delivered control group (n=50) who received conventional analgesia. The second stage of labour was significantly longer in the epidural group ( P <0.001), which contained a higher number of primiparas than did their controls. Still, a lower incidence of retinal haemorrhages was noted in the epidural group (P<0.01). The study indicates that epidural analgesia offers a certain degree of protection against perinatal retinal haemorrhages in the spontaneously delivered neonate.