Labor outcomes with epidural analgesia: an observational before-and-after cohort study comparing continuous infusion versus programmed intermittent bolus plus patient-controlled analgesia.

Background: Scientific evidence shows that programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) for labor analgesia achieves good obstetric outcomes. After implementing our institutional standard for epidural analgesia, we compared PIEB + patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) versus continuous epidural infusion (CEI).

Methods: In an observational cohort study, we compared CEI with 0.