The effects of anemia on labor

In the literature of the past 30 years there are only brief, infrequent, and contradictory statements regarding anemia as an etiological factor of dystrophic dystocia and/or prolonged labor. In the 1,019 patients studied there were 321 primigravidas and 698 multiparas. All patients with hemoglobin determinations below 11 gm. per 100 c.c. of blood were classed as anemic and those with hemoglobin above this figure were considered to have adequate hemoglobin levels. Among the primigravidas there were 244 patients with hemoglobin determinations above 11 gm. and their average time of labor was 15 hours, 11 minutes. The 77 patients with hemoglobin below 11 gm. had an average length of labor of 18 hours, 16 minutes. This represents an average increase of 20.3 per cent. In the group of multiparas there were 441 with hemoglobin determinations above 11 gm. and their average time of labor was 10 hours. The remaining 257 patients with reduced hemoglobin values had an average length of labor of 12 hours, 17 minutes, or an average increase of 22.9 per cent.