Abdominal palpation to determine fetal position at labor onset: a test accuracy study

SS Webb, MN Plana, Javier Zamora, Aishah Bibi, B Earley, Christine MacArthur, Khalid Khan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective. To examine the accuracy of abdominal palpation for identifying left-occipito-anterior (LOA) fetal position using abdominal ultrasound as the reference standard. Design: Classical test accuracy study undertaken in 2005-2007. Setting: Birmingham Women's Foundation NHS Trust serving a large, socio-economically and ethnically varied population. Sample. All nulliparous women with spontaneous or induced labor before established labor (cervix 5 years achieved higher sensitivity compared to those with ≤5 years (odds ratio 4.02; 1.26-12.9; p=0.019). Sensitivity was higher for community compared with hospital midwives (OR 6.59; 1.11-39.11; p=0.038). Conclusions. Abdominal palpation to determine LOA position at the onset of labor had poor accuracy in nulliparous women on arrival at the maternity unit with a cervix dilation of
Original languageEnglish
JournalActa obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jun 2011

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