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The effect of parity on uterine activity in labour
Author(s) -
ARULKUMARAN S.,
GIBB D. M. F.,
LUN K. C.,
HENG S. H.,
RATNAM S. S.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1984.tb03694.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cervical dilatation , uterus , gynecology , parity (physics) , normal values , physics , cervix , particle physics , cancer
Summary. Uterine activity was studied in 40 multiparous Singapore women of Chinese origin who were in normal labour and had a normal delivery. A catheter tip pressure transducer coupled with a uterine activity integrator was used to quantify uterine activity. Normal labour progress was defined as labour progressing within 2 h to the right of a line drawn on the partogram at 1 cm/h in the active phase of labour. A wide range of activity was observed. The median level of uterine activity rose from 815 kPas/15 min at 3 cm dilatation to 1731 kPas/15 min at 9 cm dilatation with an overall median level of 1130 kPas/15 min. The 10th centile value rose from 430 kPas/15 min at 3 cm dilatation to 923 kPas/15 min at 9 cm dilatation. Profiles of dilatation‐specific activity values were constructed. These values were significantly lower than in a comparative group of nulliparous patients. The parous uterus requires to expend significantly less effort to effect normal vaginal delivery than its nulliparous counterpart.