Perineal Pain Severity in Postpartum Period Evaluated Six Hours and Three Months after Delivery

• Published in: International journal of caring sciences 2018-09, Vol.11 (3), p.1691-1696
• Main Authors: Senol, Derya Kaya, Aslan, Ergul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Births; Breastfeeding & lactation; Childbirth & labor; Data collection; Ethics; Gynecology; Longitudinal studies; Midwifery; Obstetrics; Pain; Postpartum period; Womens health
• ISSN: 1791-5201; 1792-037X

Background: Postpartum perineal pain affects most of the women in the first 10 days after delivery and a lower rate of the women in 18 months after delivery. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate perineal pain in the postpartum 6-hour and 3-month periods. Method: This is a cross-sectional, prospective and descriptive study. Eighty postpartum women admitted to an obstetrics and gynecology hospital. 52 were primipara and 34 were multipara. Perineal pain severity was evaluated at face to face interviews in the postpartum 2-hour and 6th-hour periods and on phone calls 3 months after birth. A personal characteristics form consisting of 45 questions and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were used for data collection. Results: The VAS score for perineal pain was 6.35±1.97 in the postpartum 2nd hour, 5.70±1.88 in the postpartum 6th hour and 4.10±1.99 in the postpartum 3rd month. The perineal pain score was higher in the primipara and the 6th-hour perineal pain score in the primipara was significantly different from that of the multipara. While the perineal pain score in the first 2-hour period after giving birth was higher in the women with intact perineum, the pain score in the 6th hour and 3rd month was higher in the women who had episiotomy or/and spontaneous tears. The primipara women experienced significantly more severe pain during sexual intercourse in the postpartum 3rd month (p=. 001). Conclusion: Women who have their first birthing and who have episiotomy experience more perineal pain in the postpartum period. Impact statement: Perineal pain disturbed women until the third month after birth specially primiparas and need to be followed.