title: Labour patterns in Chinese women in Chongqing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To obtain data on the characteristics of labour from a regional sample of Chinese parturients and to assess the pattern of progress of labour among nulliparous women.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.
  
  
  METHODS
  The final sample involved 1200 Chinese parturients with singleton, vertex and term gestation; spontaneous onset of labour; vaginal delivery; and without adverse perinatal outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A repeated-measures analysis was used to depict labour curves while an interval-censored regression was used to estimate the duration of labour centimetre by centimetre.
  
  
  METHODS
  Labour curves and the duration of labour at the 50th and 95th percentiles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 1091 nulliparous women, 57.7% had cervical dilation of 3 cm or less at the time of admission, and the mean duration of the first stage of labour was 9.1 ± 3.3 hours. From 5 to 9 cm of cervical dilation it sometimes took more than 2 hours for dilation to advance 1 cm. No obvious inflection points appeared in the labour curve of Chinese nulliparae, and no deceleration was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Progress of labour in Chinese parturients was more gradual than in their Western counterparts. Obstetric practice standards based on data generated from Western countries may not be appropriate for Chinese women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A prospective study has evaluated labour patterns in Chinese women using regional data from nulliparae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Szechwan, China.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Third People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: X-Q
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: X-R
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Szechwan, China.|Department of Medical Statistics, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Szechwan, China.
authors.forename: X-B
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China. qihongbocq@gmail.com.
authors.forename: H-B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Qi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007747:Labor Stage, First; D007748:Labor Stage, Second; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000208:ethnology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Chinese parturient; duration of labour; intrapartum care; labour curve; nulliparous women; vaginal delivery