Management of Labour and Obstetric Outcome of Pregnant Women in Latent Phase versus Active Phase of Labour at the Time of Admission

Background: Women present to the labour ward in either latent phase or active phase of labour, which is the basis of decision of the line of management that is offered to the patient. The outcome of the fetus and maternal health is influenced by the intervention taken by the gynecologist. Aim: To study the patients in both active and latent phase of labour at the time of admission, who are left for spontaneous delivery and in whom induction of labour is done and correlate the same with mode of delivery and fetal outcome. Materials and methods: This was an observational, prospective study and was conducted in the Department of OBGY of a Medical College and Tertiary Health Care Centre (Hospital). It was done from March to June 2019. Data was collected and then analysed by SPSS version 17. Results: Two hundred case notes of low risk pregnant women were collected of which 100 belonged to active phase and 100 to latent phase of labour. Key interventions including induction with prostaglandins and caesarean section were significantly higher in the latent phase group than the active phase group. [21% versus 3%, p less than 0.05] and [47% versus 6%, p less than 0.05] respectively. Spontaneous vertex delivery was higher among pregnant women admitted initially in active phase than in latent phase groups [88% versus 47% (p less than 0.01)]. There were more women in the active phase group who sustained genital tract tear and postpartum haemorrhage than in the latent phase group [44% versus 36%, (p less than 0.05)] and 28% versus 10% (p less than 0.05) respectively. It was also observed that the mean rank of APGAR score was better in children of Active phase patients (112.63) as compared to latent phase group (87.50) (p less than 0.001). NICU admissions were found in 25 children born to latent group whereas there were 3 NICU admissions in active phase group. Conclusion: Patients admitted in latent phase of labour are subjected to more intervention which affects the mode of delivery, maternal complications andfetal o