The effects of not having continuous companion support during labour on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yin Kwan Mok, Ka Wang Cheung, Weilan Wang and 3 others
PMID 35240431WHAT IT FOUND
Women without continuous labour support had more augmentation (6.5% vs 3.1%), more babies with a one-minute newborn Apgar score below 7 (5.3% vs 2.5%) and lower first-hour breastfeeding (80.6% vs 86.3%).
Other outcomes were similar.
Key findings
01Labour augmentation occurred in 3.1% of women with continuous support and 6.5% of women without continuous support.
02Babies born to women without continuous support were more likely to have an Apgar score below 7 at 1 minute (5.3% vs 2.5%), but the five-minute Apgar score was not different.
03First-hour breastfeeding was lower in women without continuous support (80.6% vs 86.3%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a retrospective comparison between different years, so the pandemic, care changes or other unmeasured factors could explain the differences, even though the authors report no major change in intrapartum management or staff. The analysed groups were smaller than the retrieved groups: 446 of 522 women in 2019 and 340 of 366 women in 2020 were included after exclusions. The supported 2019 group had more non-Chinese women (13.5% vs 5.6%), and the Chinese-only subgroup showed no significant differences, so ethnicity or setting may affect the results. The study did not measure pain scores, birth satisfaction or the direct psychological effect of pandemic fear, so it cannot say how companionship affected the labour experience.
Declared interests
No funding source was reported, and the authors declared no competing financial interests or personal relationships.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that lack of labour companions causes worse birth outcomes. This compared different years during a pandemic, and the Chinese-only subgroup showed no significant differences.