Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2021; 9(36): 11330-11337
Published online Dec 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i36.11330
Birthing ball on promoting cervical ripening and its influence on the labor process and the neonatal blood gas index
Hai-Chuan Shen, Huan Wang, Bo Sun, Lan-Zhi Jiang, Qian Meng
Hai-Chuan Shen, Huan Wang, Bo Sun, Lan-Zhi Jiang, Qian Meng, Obstetrical Department, Lianyungang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Lianyungang 222000, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Shen HC and Wang H design the experiment; Sun B drafted the work, Jiang LZ, Meng Q, and Shen HC collected the data; Shen HC and Wang H analysed and interpreted data; Shen HC and Meng Q wrote the article.
Supported by Science and Technology Project of Municipal Health Commission of Lianyungang, No. QN202010.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Lianyungang Maternal and Child Health Hospital Ethics Committee.
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered at Clinical Hospital centerSestre Milosrdnice Trial registry. The registration identification number is LYG-MEP2021005.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The manuscript was checked and revised according to the CONSORT 2010.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qian Meng, PhD, Chief Physician, Obstetrical Department, Lianyungang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, No. 669 Qindongmen Street, Haizhou District, Lianyungang 222000, Jiangsu Province, China. lygmq6326@163.com
Received: August 18, 2021
Peer-review started: August 18, 2021
First decision: September 29, 2021
Revised: October 14, 2021
Accepted: November 18, 2021
Article in press: November 18, 2021
Published online: December 26, 2021
Processing time: 127 Days and 2.3 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Term pregnancy-induced labor refers to the use of artificial methods to induce uterine contractions and terminate pregnancy after 37 wk. It is a common method to prevent overdue pregnancy and to deal with high-risk pregnancies. In addition, it can alleviate maternal complications and cause the fetus to leave the adverse intrauterine environment early, which is beneficial to the outcome of pregnancy.

AIM

To explore the effect of a birthing ball on labor by inducing cervical ripening and its influence on labor and the neonatal blood gas index.

METHODS

Twenty-two women who were scheduled to undergo labor induction and delivery in the obstetrics department of our hospital were randomly divided into two groups: the delivery ball group (childbirth ball combined with COOK balloon induction) and the conventional group (COOK balloon induction alone). The cervical Bishop score before and after intervention, duration of labor at each stage, mode of delivery, neonatal umbilical venous blood pH, oxygen partial pressure (PO2), carbon dioxide partial pressure (PCO2), and the 1-min Apgar score were recorded.

RESULTS

After the intervention, the cervical Bishop score of the delivery ball group (7.84 ± 1.52) was significantly higher than that of the conventional group (7.32 ± 1.29) (P < 0.05), and the cervical Bishop scores of the two groups after intervention were significantly higher than those before intervention (P < 0.05). After the intervention, the first stage of labor (510.9 ± 98.7 min), the second stage of labor (43.0 ± 8.5 min), and the total duration of labor (560.0 ± 120.9 min) in the delivery ball group were lower than those in the routine group, with a first stage of labor of 602.1 ± 133.2 min, a second stage of labor of 48.4 ± 9.1 min, and a total duration of labor of 656.8 ± 148.5 min (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the time of the third stage of labor between the two groups (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the pH, PO2, and PCO2 values of newborns between the delivery ball group and the conventional group (P > 0.05). The 1-min Apgar score of the delivery ball group was higher than that of the conventional group (9.10 ± 0.38 points vs 8.94 ± 0.31 points, P < 0.05). The natural delivery rate of the delivery ball group was higher than that of the conventional group (91.00% vs 78.00%, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The use of a birthing ball combined with a COOK balloon for inducing labor has a better effect on promoting cervical ripening, shortening the time of labor, and improving the Apgar score of newborns.

Keywords: Childbirth ball, Induction of labor, Promotion of cervical ripening, Labor, Blood gas index, COOK balloon

Core Tip: Through a group of prospective studies that divided 22 parturient into delivery ball group (delivery ball combined with COOK balloon induction) and routine group (induction with COOK balloon alone), it was confirmed that the use of midwifery ball combined with COOK balloon to induce labor promotes the cervix mature, shorten the delivery time, and improve the Apgar score of newborns have a good effect.