ArticleBiological research for nursing2010
The effects of hydrotherapy on anxiety, pain, neuroendocrine responses, and contraction dynamics during labor.
Article in Biological research for nursing, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05309031 (An Immersion Intervention for Symptoms of PTSD in Student Veterans), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
An Immersion Intervention for Symptoms of PTSD in Student Veterans
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 89 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding the barriers and facilitators related to birthing pool use from organisational and multi-professional perspectives: a mixed-methods systematic review.Reproductive health · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Immersion in water during labour and birth.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Hospital waterbirth for low-risk birthing people: findings of a randomized controlled trial.AJOG global reports · 2025Article
- Effect of Human Cytochrome P450 2D6 Polymorphism on Progesterone Hydroxylation.European journal of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics · 2022Article
- Quantitative cardiac autonomic outcomes of hydrotherapy in women during the first stage of labor.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Assessment of educational intervention and Acupressure during labor on the mother's anxiety level and arterial oxygen pressure of the umbilical cord of infants (PO2). A randomized controlled clinical Trial.Journal of education and health promotion · 2022Article
- Factors influencing the use of birth pools in the United Kingdom: Perspectives of women, midwives and medical staff.Midwifery · 2019Article
- Impact of water therapy on pain management in patients with fibromyalgia: current perspectives.Journal of pain research · 2019Article
- Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Methods of Labour Pain Relief-Establishment of Effectiveness and Comparison.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- Observational
- Immersion in water for pain relief and the risk of intrapartum transfer among low risk nulliparous women: secondary analysis of the Birthplace national prospective cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2014Article
- Labouring women who used a birthing pool in obstetric units in Italy: prospective observational study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2014Observational
- Cortisol as a biomarker of stress in term human labor: physiological and methodological issues.Biological research for nursing · 2014Review
- Improvement in anxiety and pain after whole body whirlpool hydrotherapy among patients with myofascial pain syndrome.Annals of rehabilitation medicine · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHydrotherapy (immersion or bathing) is used worldwide to promote relaxation and decrease parturient anxiety and pain in labor, but the psychophysiological effects of this intervention remain obscure.
designA pretest-posttest design with repeated measures was used to examine the effects of hydrotherapy on maternal anxiety and pain, neuroendocrine responses, plasma volume shift (PVS), and uterine contractions (CXs) during labor. Correlations among variables were examined at three time points (preimmersion and twice during hydrotherapy).
methodsEleven term women (mean age 24.5 years) in spontaneous labor were immersed to the xiphoid in 37 degrees C water for 1 hr. Blood samples and measures of anxiety and pain were obtained under dry baseline conditions and repeated at 15 and 45 min of hydrotherapy. Uterine contractions were monitored telemetrically.
resultsHydrotherapy was associated with decreases in anxiety, vasopressin (V), and oxytocin (O) levels at 15 and 45 min (all ps < .05). There were no significant differences between preimmersion and immersion pain or cortisol (C) levels. Pain decreased more for women with high baseline pain than for women with low baseline levels at 15 and 45 min. Cortisol levels decreased twice as much at 15 min of hydrotherapy for women with high baseline pain as for those with low baseline pain. beta-endorphin (betaE) levels increased at 15 min but did not differ between baseline and 45 min. During immersion, CX frequency decreased. A positive PVS at 15 min was correlated with contraction duration.
conclusionsHydrotherapy during labor affects neuroendocrine responses that modify psychophysiological processes.
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Registered trials
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