BACKGROUND: There is an increasing trend of Caesarean section rate in Malaysia. Limited evidence demonstrated the benefits of changing the demarcation of the active phase of labour.
METHODS: This was a retrospective study of 3980 singletons, term pregnancy, spontaneous labouring women between 2015 and 2019 comparing outcomes between those with cervical dilation of 4 versus 6 cm at diagnosis of the active phase of labour.
RESULTS: A total of 3403 (85.5%) women had cervical dilatation of 4 cm, and 577 (14.5%) at 6 cm upon diagnosis of the active phase of labour. Women in 4 cm group were significantly heavier at delivery (p = 0.015) but significantly more multiparous women were in 6 cm group (p
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.