title: No association between female circumcision and prolonged labour: a case control study of immigrant women giving birth in Sweden.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital MAS, SE-20502 Malmö, Sweden. Birgitta.Essén@obst.mas.lu.se
authors.forename: Birgitta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Essén
authors.forename: Nils-Otto
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Sjöberg
authors.forename: Saemundur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gudmundsson
authors.forename: P-O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Ostergren
authors.forename: Pelle G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Lindqvist
mesh_terms: 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