Abstract
BackgroundTo investigate the relationship between intrapartum maternal fever and the duration and dosage of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA).MethodsThis observational study included 159 pregnant women who voluntarily accepted PCEA. During labor, patients with body temperature ≥ 38 °C were classified into the Fever group, (n = 42), and those with body temperature < 38 °C were classified into the No-fever group (n = 117). The outcome measures included the duration of PCEA, number of PCEA, and total PCEA amount. Body temperature and parturient variables, including interpartum fever status and the duration of any fever were monitored.ResultsThe total PCEA duration and total PCEA amount in the Fever group were significantly higher than the corresponding values in the No-fever group (both, p < 0.05). The duration of fever was weakly correlated with the duration of PCEA (R2 = 0.08) and the total PCEA amount (R2 = 0.05) (both, p < 0.05). The total and effective PCEA were higher in the Fever group than in the No-fever group (both, p < 0.05). The total PCEA duration and total PCEA amount were positively correlated with the incidence of fever (both, p < 0.05). The diagnostic cutoff value for fever was 383 min, with a sensitivity of 78.6% and specificity of 57.3%. The mean temperature-time curves showed that parturients who developed fever had a steeper rise in temperature.ConclusionsThis study showed that there were weak time- and dose-dependent correlations between PCEA and maternal fever during delivery. A total PCEA duration exceeding 6.3 h was associated with an increase in the duration of maternal intrapartum fever.
Highlights
To investigate the relationship between intrapartum maternal fever and the duration and dosage of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA)
This study investigated the associations of PCEA duration, anesthetic dosage, and intrapartum maternal fever using a novel method for the continuous monitoring of maternal core body temperature and the recording of analgesic data during labor
We focused on the effect of analgesia duration on fever, with the goal of generating a mean temperature-time curve to guide the clinical management of epidural-related maternal fever (ERMF)
Summary
To investigate the relationship between intrapartum maternal fever and the duration and dosage of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA). Our previous study confirmed this through accurate and continuous monitoring of core temperature, which revealed a maternal fever rate of 26.4% in women who used PCEA. Wang et al found that the average analgesic duration in the early PCEA group was significantly longer than that in the late PCEA group, the average body temperature and fever rate were almost the same [5, 6]. They speculated that the relationship between PCEA and ERMF could be attributed to the “triggering effect” of local anesthetics via non-infectious inflammation. Continuous monitoring of maternal core body temperature has not yet revealed the factors associated with elevated maternal temperature during labor
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
