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Objective To compare the pain relief and side effects of intramuscular pethidine with intramuscular diamorphine in labour. Design Double-blind randomised controlled trial. Setting The labour ward in a UK teaching hospital. Participants Sixty-nine nulliparous women and 64 multiparous women in labour who requested narcotic analgesia and remained undelivered one hour after trial entry. Methods Nulliparous women were randomised to receive either 150 mg intramuscular pethidine or 7–5 mg intramuscular diamorphine. Multiparous women were randomised to receive either 100 mg intramuscular pethidine or 5 mg intramuscular diamorphine. All participants received the anti-emetic prochloroperazine at the same time as the trial drugs. Main outcome measures Maternal analgesia assessed by a visual analogue score and verbal scales of pain intensity and pain relief, maternal sedation and vomiting, neonatal outcome assessed by Apgar scores and the need for resuscitation. Results More women allocated to receiving pethidine than to diamorphine reported slight or no pain relief at 60 minutes after administration of these drugs (P= 0.03). This trend was repeated in most of the other measures for maternal analgesia. There was no difference in maternal sedation, but the incidence of vomiting within 60 minutes was lower for women who received diamorphine (P= 0.02). Pethidine was associated with lower Apgar scores at 1 minute (P < 0.05). Conclusion Intramuscular diamorphine in labour appears to have some benefits, compared with intramuscular pethidine, but the trial was small and further research, particularly into alternative opioids and long term effects on the infants is still needed.

Objectives To determine whether the addition of antenatal thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) to corticosteroids, given to women at risk of preterm delivery, would decrease the risk of death and severe morbidity associated with prematurity. Design Two concurrent multicentre, double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trials were designed with a common core dataset to be analysed as a single large pragmatic trial. Setting Hospital maternity units. Populations Pregnant women at risk of preterm delivery who had been prescribed a course of corticosteroids to enhance fetal maturation. Interventions Antenatal administration of TRH 400 μg every eight hours for four doses versus matching placebo. Main outcome measures Primary: death of the baby or chronic lung disease (defined as oxygen dependency at 28 days after birth). Secondary: other measures of respiratory morbidity, in particular respiratory distress syndrome. Other measures of short term neonatal morbidity including intraventricular haemorrhage and necrotising enterocolitis. Measures of maternal side effects. Results The antenatal TRH trial was halted early on the basis of external evidence. Overall a total of 225 women were recruited who delivered 275 babies. The primary outcome of death or chronic lung disease occurred in 33 babies in the TRH group and 43 babies in the placebo group (RR 0.8, 95% CI 0.5-1.2). There were no other differences between the two groups. Stratified analysis did not reveal any differences between the two groups depending on how long before the time of delivery the mother had received the TRH or placebo. Conclusions These trials are too small to provide convincing evidence of the effect of antenatal TRH on neonatal outcome. When added to the existing systematic review and meta-analysis, however, these data should provide evidence on which subsequent practice can be based. The process by which the trials were monitored and stopped is of relevance to future trials.

Summary. Recent claims that routine active management of the third stage of labour increases rather than decreases maternal and neonatal morbidity have prompted us to conduct a systematic review of the relevant controlled trials. In this paper we have analysed data derived from a total of nine published reports of controlled trials in which an oxytocic drug was compared with either a placebo or no routine prophylactic. Oxytocic drugs used routinely appear to reduce the risk of postpartum haemorrhage by about 40% (typical odds ratio 0·57, 95% confidence interval 0·44–0·73) implying that for every 22 women given such an oxytocic, one postpartum haemorrhage could be prevented. The available data are insufficient to assess the possible effects of this policy on the incidence of retained placenta, hypertension and other possible adverse effects.

Summary. Glycerol-impregnated chromic catgut and untreated chromic catgut were compared in a randomized controlled trial involving 737 consecutive women who required repair of perineal trauma following spontaneous vaginal delivery. Medical staff preference was equally divided between the two materials. More untreated chromic catgut sutures required removal both by 10 days and by 3 months postpartum. Women whose perineal trauma was repaired with glycerol-impregnated chromic catgut were 10% more likely to have perineal pain at 10 days and 33% more likely to suffer from dyspareunia in the 3 months following delivery. The high rates of maternal morbidity associated with glycerol-impregnated chromic catgut appear to preclude its use for perineal repair.