The correlation of vitamin D level with dysfunctional labour and mode of delivery

To evaluate the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and dysfunctional labour.

The cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from February to October 2016, and comprised primigravida women who presented with active labour after term pregnancies that were 37-42weeks long. Through history, examination and investigations, the patients were evaluated according to the mode of delivery and the prolongation of 1st or 2nd stage of labour. Also, 5ml blood was taken from each subject and centrifuged for the measurement of vitamin D level using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assasy, and to correlate it with the subjects. Data was analysed using SPSS 20.

There were 100 subjects with a mean age of 28.85 } 5.47 years (range: 17-37 years). Of them, 87(87%) had normal vaginal delivery while 13(1`3%) underwent caesarean section. Vitamin D level was significantly higher in patients who had vaginal delivery, 48.7}22.4nmole/L compared to31.9}16.0nmole/L in patients with caesarean section. Normal vitamin D level was significantly associated with vaginal delivery (p<0.001), but there was no significant association between vitamin D and stage of labour (p>0.05).

Low vitamin D may influence the progress of labour and increase the rate of caesarean section.