title: Episiotomy and its relationship to various clinical variables that influence its performance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to understand the episiotomy rate and its relationship with various clinical variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  a descriptive, cross-sectional, analytic study of 12,093 births in a tertiary hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parity, gestational age, start of labor, use of epidural analgesia, oxytocin usage, position during fetal explusion, weight of neonate, and completion of birth. The analysis was performed with SPSS 19.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the global percentage of episiotomies was 50%. The clinical variables that presented a significant association were primiparity (RR=2.98), gestational age >41 weeks (RR=1.2), augmented or induced labor (RR=1.33), epidural analgesia use (RR=1,95), oxytocin use (RR=1.58), lithotomy position during fetal expulsion (RR=6.4), and instrumentation (RR=1.84). Furthermore, maternal age ≥35 years (RR=0.85) and neonatal weight <2500 g (RR=0.8) were associated with a lower incidence of episiotomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  episiotomy is dependent on obstetric interventions performed during labor. If we wish to reduce the episiotomy rate, it will be necessary to bear in mind these risk factors when establishing policies for reducing this procedure.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ballesteros-Meseguer
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrillo-García
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meseguer-de-Pedro
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canteras-Jordana
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Espanha.
authors.forename: M Emilia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Martínez-Roche
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004841:Episiotomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000009:adverse effects; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin