Epidural anesthesia shortens duration of labor in singleton vertex presentation spontaneous delivery

Influence of epidural anesthesia on the duration of labor was studied in 1,206 parturients having spontaneous singleton vaginal delivery. In primiparous women, the mean first stage was 3.52 hr in the epidural group, and 7.68 hr in the control group (p less than 0.001), the mean second stage was 25.78 min in the epidural group, and 43.58 min in the control group (p less than 0.001). In the multiparous women, the mean first stage was 2.06 hr in the epidural group, and 3.85 hr in the control group (p less than 0.001), the mean second stage was 17.06 min in the epidural group, and 25.42 min in the control group (p less than 0.0001). The conclusion is that epidural anesthesia shortens the duration of first and second stages of labor in singleton vaginal delivery.