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Effect of birth ball on labor pain relief: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Makvandi Somayeh,
Latifnejad Roudsari Robab,
Sadeghi Ramin,
Karimi Leila
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1447-0756
pISSN - 1341-8076
DOI - 10.1111/jog.12802
Subject(s) - medicine , meta analysis , cochrane library , labor pain , confidence interval , randomized controlled trial , study heterogeneity , physical therapy , medline , placebo , psychological intervention , visual analogue scale , pain relief , relative risk , systematic review , pregnancy , surgery , alternative medicine , nursing , pathology , biology , political science , law , genetics
Aim To critically evaluate the available evidence related to the impact of using a birth ball on labor pain relief. Methods The Cochrane library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE/PubMed and Scopus were searched from their inception to January 2015 using keywords: (Birth* OR Swiss OR Swedish OR balance OR fitness OR gym* OR Pezzi OR sport* OR stability) AND (ball*) AND (labor OR labour OR Obstetric). All available randomized controlled trials involving women using a birth ball for pain relief during labor were considered. The search resulted in 341 titles and abstracts, which were narrowed down to eight potentially relevant articles. Of these, four studies met the inclusion criteria. Pain intensity on a 10 cm visual analogue scale was used as the main outcome measure. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Comprehensive Meta‐Analysis Version 2 was used for statistical analysis. Results Four RCTs involving 220 women were included in the systematic review. One study was excluded from the meta‐analysis because of heterogeneous interventions and a lack of mean and standard deviation results of labor pain score. The meta‐analysis showed that birth ball exercises provided statistically significant improvements to labor pain (pooled mean difference ‐0.921; 95% confidence interval ‐1.28, ‐0.56; P = 0.5; I 2 = 33.7%). Conclusion The clinical implementation of a birth ball exercise could be an effective tool for parturient women to reduce labor pain. However, rigorous RCTs are needed to evaluate the effect of the birth ball on labor pain relief.