Caesarean birth rates in public and privately funded hospitals: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine maternal and obstetric factors influencing births by cesarean section according to health care funding.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with data from Southeastern Brazil. Caesarean section births from February 2011 to July 2012 were included.

Effect of low-level laser therapy on pain and perineal healing after episiotomy: A triple-blind randomized controlled trial.

Background And Objective: Episiotomy is associated with perineal pain and healing complications. The low-level laser therapy (LLLT) reduces pain and inflammation and stimulates the healing process. This study aimed to assess the effect of LLLT on pain and perineal healing after an episiotomy.

Episiotomy healing assessment: Redness, Oedema, Ecchymosis, Discharge, Approximation (REEDA) scale reliability.

Objective: to analyse the Redness, Oedema, Ecchymosis, Discharge, Approximation (REEDA) scale reliability when evaluating perineal healing after a normal delivery with a right mediolateral episiotomy.

Method: observational study based on data from a clinical trial conducted with 54 randomly selected women, who had their perineal healing assessed at four time points, from 6 hours to 10 days after delivery, by nurses trained in the use of this scale. The kappa coefficient was used in the reliability analysis of the REEDA scale.

[Meconium-stained amniotic fluid and maternal and neonatal factors associated].

Objective: To identify the frequency and maternal and neonatal factors associated with meconium-stained amniotic fluid at birth.

Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out with 2,441 births at an in-hospital birth center in the city of São Paulo (Southeastern Brazil) in March and April, 2005. The association between meconium-stained amniotic fluid and the independent variables (maternal age, parity, previous c-section or not, gestational age, obstetric history, oxytocin use in the labor, cervical dilation at admission, mode of current delivery, newborn weight, Apgar score at the 1st and 5th minute) was expressed as prevalence ratio (PR).

Factors associated with maternal intrapartum transfers from a freestanding birth centre in São Paulo, Brazil: a case control study.

Objectives: to identify factors associated with maternal intrapartum transfer from a freestanding birth centre to hospital.

Design: case-control study with retrospective data collection.

Participants And Settings: cases included all 111 women transferred from a freestanding birth centre in Sao Paulo to the referral hospital, from March 2002 to December 2009.

Comparison of application times for ice packs used to relieve perineal pain after normal birth: a randomised clinical trial.

Aims And Objectives: To compare the effect of an ice pack applied for 10, 15 and 20 minutes to relieve perineal pain after birth.

Background: Perineal pain after vaginal birth, with or without vaginal trauma, is one of the most common morbidities reported for postnatal women. Cryotherapy has been used in postpartum period to relieve perineal pain and investigated in several studies.

Risk factors for birth-related perineal trauma: a cross-sectional study in a birth centre.

Aim And Objectives: To identify maternal, newborn and obstetric factors associated with birth-related perineal trauma in one independent birth centre.

Background: Risk factors for birth-related perineal trauma include episiotomy, maternal age, ethnicity, parity and interventions during labour including use of oxytocin, maternal position at time of birth and infant birth weight. Understanding more about these factors could support the management of vaginal birth to prevent spontaneous perineal trauma, in line with initiatives to reduce routine use of episiotomy.

Low-level laser therapy for pain relief after episiotomy: a double-blind randomised clinical trial.

Aims And Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a low-level laser therapy for pain relief in the perineum following episiotomy during childbirth.

Background: Laser irradiation is a painless and non-invasive therapy for perineal pain treatment and its effects have been investigated in several studies, with no clear conclusion on its effectiveness.

Design: A double-blind randomised controlled clinical trial.

[Transferring mothers from a free-standing birth center to a reference hospital].

The objective of this descriptive study was to characterize the transfers of mothers from the Sapopemba Birth Center to reference hospitals in São Paulo, from September 1998 to July 2008. The studied population was 229 cases of mother transfers. Data were obtained from medical records and record books of the transferred women.

Cesarean sections in a birth center.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of cesarean sections in a birth center of a hospital and identify factors associated.

Methods: Cross-sectional study including medical records of 2,441 births assisted in a birth center in the city of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, between March and April 2005. The dependent variable (type of delivery) included vaginal delivery and cesarean section.

Perineal analgesia with an ice pack after spontaneous vaginal birth: a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: This study evaluated the effectiveness of an ice pack applied for 20 minutes to alleviate perineal pain after spontaneous vaginal birth.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial at the Amparo Maternal Birth Center in São Paulo, Brazil. Study participants included 114 nulliparous women divided into 3 groups (n = 38 per group): experimental (ice packs on the perineum), placebo (water packs at set temperature), and control (no treatment).

[Maternal and perinatal outcomes of an alongside hospital birth center in the city of São Paulo, Brazil].

The aim of this study was to describe the maternal and perinatal results of care in the alongside hospital birth center Casa de Maria (CPN-CM), located in the city of São Paulo. The random sample included 991 women and their newborns, attended between 2003 and 2006. The results showed that 92.

A randomised controlled trial evaluating the effect of immersion bath on labour pain.

Objective: to evaluate the effect of an immersion bath on pain magnitude during the first stage of labour.

Design: a randomised controlled trial comparing the pain scores of bathing and non-bathing nulliparous women during birth was employed.

Setting: the study was conducted at the Normal Birth Center of Amparo Maternal, São Paulo, Brazil.

[The effect of immersion baths on the length of childbirth labor].

The objectives of this experimental, randomized, controlled trial study were to evaluate the effect of immersion baths on the length of the first stage of childbirth labor and on the frequency and length of the uterine contractions. Data were collected in a philanthropic public maternity hospital of the city of São Paulo whose month average is 1,100 births. The sample was comprised of 108 women in labor--54 in the control group and 54 in the experimental group that had immersion baths.