ReviewBritish journal of anaesthesia2025
Gastric emptying in pregnancy and its clinical implications: a narrative review.
Review in British journal of anaesthesia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effect of preoperative fasting on acute postoperative pain following cesarean section: a retrospective cohort study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Population pharmacokinetics of lumefantrine in pregnant and non-pregnant women with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Western Kenya.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Biological sex differences in pharmacokinetics and adverse drug reactions.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
- Ultrasonographic assessment of gastric and gallbladder dynamics in human health and disease.Internal and emergency medicine · 2025Review
- Pulmonary aspiration during pregnancy or immediately postpartum in the UK: A population-based case-control study.NIHR open research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Delayed gastric emptying increases the risk of pulmonary aspiration during anaesthesia for Caesarean delivery. Our aim in conducting this narrative review was to consider the effect of pregnancy on gastric emptying. The indices of gastric emptying after liquids, solids, or both and when fasted in the various trimesters of pregnancy, at the time of Caesarean delivery, in labour, and the postpartum period were assessed. We considered 32 observational studies, one nonrandomised controlled study, and 22 randomised controlled trials. The evidence indicates that, compared with the nonpregnant state, gastric emptying is decreased in the first but not the second and third trimesters. Before elective Caesarean delivery, carbohydrate drink or tea with milk leads to no difference in gastric cross-sectional area at 2 h relative to fasting or water. Following a standard fast for elective Caesarean delivery, patients may still have high-risk gastric contents. Compared with the nonpregnant state and third trimester, gastric emptying is delayed in labour, although the choice of analgesia has modifying effects. Systemic opioids delay gastric emptying. Epidural analgesia increases gastric emptying, but not back to baseline. Intrathecal analgesia delays gastric emptying relative to epidural analgesia. Women in labour who have eaten solids in the last 8 h still have high-risk gastric contents present in the stomach. The evidence with respect to the postpartum period is conflicting. In conclusion, inconsistencies in the literature reflect the unpredictability of gastric emptying in pregnancy and underline the potential value of gastric ultrasound in women who are pregnant.
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