TY - JOUR
T1 - Physiological plateaus during normal labor and birth
T2 - A scoping review of contemporary concepts and definitions
AU - Weckend, Marina
AU - Davison, Clare
AU - Bayes, Sara
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship as part of an ongoing PhD (Health) degree for MW.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Background: Physiological plateaus (slowing, stalling, pausing) during normal labor and birth have been reported for decades, but have received limited attention in research and clinical practice. To date, heterogeneous conceptualizations and terminology have impeded effective communication and research in this area, raising concern as to whether some physiological plateaus might be misinterpreted as dystocia. To address this issue, we provide a point of orientation, mapping contemporary concepts, and terminologies of physiological plateaus during normal labor and birth. Methods: We conducted a scoping review, considering published and unpublished reports of physiological plateaus, reported in any language, between 1990 and 2021. Database searches of CINAHL, EMBASE, Emcare, MIDIRS, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Open Grey yielded 1,953 records, with an additional 35 reports identified by hand searching. In total, 43 reports from eleven countries were included in this scoping review. Results: Conceptualizations of physiological plateaus are heterogeneous and can be allocated to six conceptual groups: cervical reversal or recoil, plateaus, lulls during transition, “rest and be thankful” stage, deceleration phase, and latent phases. Across included material, we identified over 60 different terms referring to physiological plateaus. Overall, physiological plateaus are reported across the entire continuum of normal labor and birth. Conclusions: Physiological plateaus may be an essential mechanism of self-regulation of the mother-infant dyad, facilitating feto-maternal adaptation and preventing maternal and fetal distress during labor and birth.
AB - Background: Physiological plateaus (slowing, stalling, pausing) during normal labor and birth have been reported for decades, but have received limited attention in research and clinical practice. To date, heterogeneous conceptualizations and terminology have impeded effective communication and research in this area, raising concern as to whether some physiological plateaus might be misinterpreted as dystocia. To address this issue, we provide a point of orientation, mapping contemporary concepts, and terminologies of physiological plateaus during normal labor and birth. Methods: We conducted a scoping review, considering published and unpublished reports of physiological plateaus, reported in any language, between 1990 and 2021. Database searches of CINAHL, EMBASE, Emcare, MIDIRS, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Open Grey yielded 1,953 records, with an additional 35 reports identified by hand searching. In total, 43 reports from eleven countries were included in this scoping review. Results: Conceptualizations of physiological plateaus are heterogeneous and can be allocated to six conceptual groups: cervical reversal or recoil, plateaus, lulls during transition, “rest and be thankful” stage, deceleration phase, and latent phases. Across included material, we identified over 60 different terms referring to physiological plateaus. Overall, physiological plateaus are reported across the entire continuum of normal labor and birth. Conclusions: Physiological plateaus may be an essential mechanism of self-regulation of the mother-infant dyad, facilitating feto-maternal adaptation and preventing maternal and fetal distress during labor and birth.
KW - dystocia
KW - labor progress
KW - natural childbirth
KW - parturition
KW - uterine inertia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122280542&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/birt.12607
DO - 10.1111/birt.12607
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85122280542
VL - 49
SP - 310
EP - 328
JO - Birth
JF - Birth
SN - 0730-7659
IS - 2
ER -