Effects of Epidural Labor Analgesia With Low Concentrations of Local Anesthetics on Obstetric Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Compared with nonepidural analgesia, epidural analgesia with LCLAs is not associated with a prolonged duration of the second stage of labor or an increased instrumental birth rate. The results of this meta-analysis are based on small trials of low quality. These conclusions require confirmation by large-sample and high-quality trials in the future.