No association between female circumcision and prolonged labour: a case control study of immigrant women giving birth in Sweden.
OBJECTIVE
Several authors' associate female genital circumcision with obstructed and prolonged labour, but the World Health Organization recently stated that no scientific evidence confirms such a relationship. The object of this study was to compare the duration of the second stage of labour between circumcised and non-circumcised women in a high-income community in Europe.


METHODS
Sixty-eight circumcised nulliparous women originally from the Horn of Africa were compared to a group of 2486 non-circumcised nulliparous who gave birth at a university hospital setting in Sweden, 1990-1996. Defibulation was routinely performed during labour.


RESULTS
Circumcised women were found to have had second stage labour, which was significantly statistically shorter (35/53 min, respectively, p < or = 0.001) and a lower risk of prolonged labour than the non-circumcised group.


CONCLUSIONS
Prolonged labour does not seem to be associated to female genital circumcision in affluent societies with high standards of obstetric care.
Essén
Birgitta
B
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital MAS, SE-20502 Malmö, Sweden. Birgitta.Essén@obst.mas.lu.se
Sjöberg
Nils-Otto
NO
Gudmundsson
Saemundur
S
Ostergren
P-O
PO
Lindqvist
Pelle G
PG
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019093:Circumcision, Female / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012998:Somalia / Q000208:ethnology; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology