Objective: Labor is a complex process and labor pain presents challenges for analgesia. Epidural analgesia (EA) has a well-known analgesic effect and is commonly used during labor. This review summarized frequently encountered and controversial problems surrounding EA during labor, including the labor process and maternal intrapartum fever, to build knowledge in this area.
Data sources: We searched for relevant articles published up to 2019 in PubMed using a range of search terms (eg, "labor pain," "epidural," "analgesia," "labor process," "maternal pyrexia," "intrapartum fever").
Study selection: The search returned 835 articles, including randomized control trials, retrospective cohort studies, observational studies, and reviews. The articles were screened by title, abstract, and then full-text, with a sample independently screened by two authors. Thirty-eight articles were included in our final analysis; 20 articles concerned the labor process and 18 reported on maternal pyrexia during EA.
Results: Four classic prospective studies including 14,326 participants compared early and delayed initiation of EA by the incidence of cesarean delivery. Early initiation following an analgesia request was preferred. However, it was controversial whether continuous use of EA in the second stage of labor induced adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes due to changes in analgesic and epidural infusion regimens. There was a high incidence of maternal pyrexia in women receiving EA and women with placental inflammation or histologic chorioamnionitis compared with those receiving systemic opioids.
Conclusions: Early EA (cervical dilation ≥1 cm) does not increase the risk for cesarean section. Continuous epidural application of low doses of analgesics and programmed intermittent epidural bolus do not prolong second-stage labor duration or impact maternal and neonatal outcomes. The association between EA and maternal pyrexia remains controversial, but pyrexia is more common with EA than without. A non-infectious inflammatory process is an accepted mechanism of epidural-related maternal fever.