{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Impact of analysis technique on our understanding of the natural history of labour: a simulation study.
{Author}: de Vries BS;Mcdonald S;Joseph FA;Morton R;Hyett JA;Phipps H;McGeechan K;
{Journal}: BJOG
{Volume}: 128
{Issue}: 11
{Year}: 10 2021
{Factor}: 7.331
{DOI}: 10.1111/1471-0528.16719
{Abstract}: To evaluate the discrepancy between historical and more recent descriptions of the first stage of labour by testing whether the statistical techniques used recently (repeated-measures polynomial and interval-censored regression) were appropriate for detection of periods of rapid acceleration of cervical dilatation as might occur at the time of transition from a latent to an active phase of labour.
A simulation study using regression techniques.
We created a simulated data set for 500 000 labours with clearly defined latent and active phases using the parameters described by Friedman. Additionally, we created a data set comprising 500 000 labours with a progressively increasing rate of cervical dilatation.
Repeated-measures polynomial regression was used to create summary labour curves based on simulated cervical examinations. Interval-censored regression was used to create centimetre-by-centimetre estimates of rates of cervical dilatation and their 95th centiles.
Labour summary curves and rates of cervical dilatation.
Repeated-measures polynomial regression did not detect the rapid acceleration in cervical dilatation (i.e. acceleration phase) and overestimated lengths of labour, especially at smaller cervical dilatations. There was a two-fold overestimation in the mean rate of cervical dilatation from 4 to 6 cm. Interval-censored regression overestimated median transit times, at 4- to 5-cm cervical dilatation or when cervical examinations occurred less frequently than 0.5- to 1.5-hourly.
Repeated-measures polynomial regression and interval-censored regression should not be routinely used to define labour progress because they do not accurately reflect the underlying data.
Repeated-measures polynomial and interval-censored regression techniques are not appropriate to model first stage of labour.