MATERNAL AND FETAL OUTCOME OF LAMAZE-PREPARED PATIENTS

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 51  (6) , 643-647
Abstract
To determine whether Lamaze childbirth preparation is harmless, harmful or beneficial, 500 consecutive Lamaze-prepared patients were compared to 500 hand-picked controls, matched for age, race, parity and educational level. Lamaze preparation had a significant beneficial effect in almost every obstetric preformance category. The Lamaze-oriented patients had 1/4 the number of cesarean sections and 1/5 the amount of fetal distress (P < .005). Postpartum infection, measured both by maternal febrile morbidity and by the incidence of antibiotic use, was 1/3 that of the controls (P < .005). Similarly, the prepared patients had fewer perineal lacerations and those that occurred were not as serious as those in the control patients (P < .005). The control patients had 3 times as many cases of toxemia of pregnancy (P < .005) and twice as many of prematurity (P < .05).

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