CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Med.
Sec. Obstetrics and Gynecology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1582458
This article is part of the Research TopicPerinatal mental health: Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and FearView all 18 articles
Postpartum Continuous Epidural Analgesia on Pain, Sleep Quality, and Emotional State in Childbearing Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- Changzhi People’s Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi, China
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Objective To explore continuous epidural analgesia’s effects on postpartum women’s pain and sleep quality. Methods First-time mothers who received labor analgesia at Changzhi People's Hospital (Nov–Dec 2024) were randomly split into control (C) and experimental (E) groups. Both got epidural labor analgesia (1% ropivacaine 10ml + sufentanil 50μg + 0.9% sodium chloride 90ml; initial bolus 6ml, rate 6ml/h, 4ml additional doses, 15min lockout). C group stopped after delivery; E group continued for 2 more days. Serum melatonin was measured before sleep on postpartum days 1 and 3. VAS scored sitting/sleep/urination pain (days 1,3); modified Bromage score (MBS) assessed lower limb mobility; Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) evaluated mood/sleep quality, and depression incidence (day 3). Results E group had lower VAS scores (all pain types, days 1,3; P<0.05). MBS showed no day-1 difference (P>0.05), but E group scored higher on day 3 (P<0.05, no daily life impact). E group also had higher EPDS/PSQI scores and melatonin levels (all P<0.05). Conclusion Postpartum continuous epidural analgesia eases postpartum pain, improves sleep quality, reduces postpartum depression, and doesn’t affect mobility.
Keywords: Pain, Puerperium, epidural, Sleep, Depression
Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Li, Zhang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jie Wu, Changzhi People’s Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi, China
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