| Methods |
Randomised. |
| Participants |
200 women with uncomplicated pregnancies in established early labour. |
| Interventions |
PCB was administered with 2% lidocaine 20 mL or 20 mL of distilled water at the 2, 5, 7, 11 o'clock positions in the lateral vaginal fornix. |
| Outcomes |
Duration of mean active phase of labour, second stage of labour, third stage of labour, rate of cervical dilatation, mean injection‐delivery interval, degree of pain relief, effect on fetal heart rate, Apgar score at 5 minutes. |
| Notes |
Although mean time from performing local anaesthesia to delivery was provided, standard deviations were not mentioned and, therefore, we could not include data on this outcome. |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Randomisation method was not described ("randomly allotted"). |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not described. |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Blinded. |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Blinded. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Data on degree of pain relief are missing on 2 subjects in lidocaine PCB group. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
High risk |
Only Apgar score at 5 minutes < 4, 5‐7, > 8 were reported and not conventional < 7. |
| Other bias |
Low risk |
No other bias identified. |
