Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Feb;104(2):169-75.
doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1997.tb11039.x.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in labour pain: a systematic review

D Carroll  1 , M Tramèr, H McQuay, B Nye, A Moore
Affiliations

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in labour pain: a systematic review

D Carroll et al. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1997 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To review the effectiveness and safety of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for labour pain.

Design: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials of TENS in pain during labour.

Sample: Eight reports involving 712 women were included; 352 women received active TENS and 360 acted as controls.

Methods: Reports were sought by searching MEDLINE and the Oxford Pain Relief Database.

Main outcome measures: Analgesic and adverse effect outcomes.

Results: Evidence for reduced pain using TENS in labour was weak. Additional analgesic interventions may be less likely with TENS (odds ratio 0.57; 95% CI 0.34-0.96), number-needed-to-treat 14 (95% CI 7.3-119).

Conclusions: Randomised controlled trials provide no compelling evidence for TENS having any analgesic effect during labour. Weak positive effects in secondary (analgesic sparing) and tertiary (choosing TENS for future labours) outcomes may be due to inadequate blinding causing overestimation of treatment effects.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types