TY - JOUR
T1 - Racial/ethnic variations in perineal length and association with perineal lacerations
T2 - A prospective cohort study
AU - Yeaton-Massey, Amanda
AU - Wong, Luchin
AU - Sparks, Teresa N.
AU - Handler, Stephanie J.
AU - Meyer, Michelle R.
AU - Granados, Jesus M.
AU - Stasenko, Marina
AU - Sit, Anita
AU - Caughey, Aaron B.
N1 - Funding Information:
AYM was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as a Clinical Research Fellow. ABC was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a Physician Faculty Scholar.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Informa UK Ltd.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - Objective: To examine the association between race/ethnicity, perineal length and the risk of perineal laceration. Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of a diverse group of women with singleton gestations in the third trimester of pregnancy. Perineal length was measured and mean values calculated for several racial/ethnic groups. Chi-squared analyses were used to examine rates of severe perineal laceration (third or fourth degree laceration) by race/ethnicity among women considered to have a short perineal length. Further, subgroup analyses were performed comparing nulliparas to multiparas. Results: Among 344 study participants, there was no statistically significant difference in mean perineal length by race/ethnicity (White 4.0±1.1cm, African-American 3.7±1.0cm, Latina 4.1±1.1cm, Asian 3.8±1.0cm, and other/unknown 4.0±0.9cm). Considering parity, more multiparous Asian and African-American women had a short perineal length (20.7 and 23.5%, respectively, p=0.05). Finally, the rate of severe perineal lacerations in our cohort was 2.6% overall, but was 8.2% among Asian women (p=0.04). Conclusions: We did not find a relationship between short perineal length and risk of severe perineal laceration with vaginal delivery, or a difference in mean perineal length by maternal race/ethnicity. However, we did find that women of different racial/ethnic groups have varying rates of severe perineal laceration, with Asian women comprising the highest proportion.
AB - Objective: To examine the association between race/ethnicity, perineal length and the risk of perineal laceration. Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of a diverse group of women with singleton gestations in the third trimester of pregnancy. Perineal length was measured and mean values calculated for several racial/ethnic groups. Chi-squared analyses were used to examine rates of severe perineal laceration (third or fourth degree laceration) by race/ethnicity among women considered to have a short perineal length. Further, subgroup analyses were performed comparing nulliparas to multiparas. Results: Among 344 study participants, there was no statistically significant difference in mean perineal length by race/ethnicity (White 4.0±1.1cm, African-American 3.7±1.0cm, Latina 4.1±1.1cm, Asian 3.8±1.0cm, and other/unknown 4.0±0.9cm). Considering parity, more multiparous Asian and African-American women had a short perineal length (20.7 and 23.5%, respectively, p=0.05). Finally, the rate of severe perineal lacerations in our cohort was 2.6% overall, but was 8.2% among Asian women (p=0.04). Conclusions: We did not find a relationship between short perineal length and risk of severe perineal laceration with vaginal delivery, or a difference in mean perineal length by maternal race/ethnicity. However, we did find that women of different racial/ethnic groups have varying rates of severe perineal laceration, with Asian women comprising the highest proportion.
KW - Perineal laceration
KW - Perineal length
KW - Race/ethnicity
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U2 - 10.3109/14767058.2014.916675
DO - 10.3109/14767058.2014.916675
M3 - Article
C2 - 24749802
AN - SCOPUS:84923336837
SN - 1476-7058
VL - 28
SP - 320
EP - 323
JO - Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
JF - Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine
IS - 3
ER -