Effectiveness of Cold Compression for Treatment of Postpartum Perineal Injury: A Systematic Review
Keywords:
cold compression, perineal injury, postpartum, systematic reviewAbstract
Abstract:
Perineal injury commonly occurs as a result of either spontaneous laceration or episiotomy, or both, during the vaginal and pelvic floor enlargement to facilitate delivery during childbirth. Perineal injury causes postpartum discomfort and pain, affecting both the mother and the newborn.
This systematic review presents a summary of the methods of cold compression and its effectiveness in treating postpartum perineal wounds. This review is based on a corpus of published and unpublished experimental and quasi-experimental research studies conducted from 2007 to 2017 on effectiveness of cold compression for postpartum perineal wound treatment, both in Thai and in English. The studies were appraised, and their main fndings were extracted, using standardised tools developed by the Joanna
Briggs Institute. The quality of the studies and the validity of the extracted fndings were then examined by the researcher and co-researcher. The acquired data were analysed using the narrative summary approach because the studies had been conducted using different methodologies, which adopted varied outcome evaluation methods practiced over different periods of time.
Eight research studies met the inclusion criteria: fve randomised experimental studies with control groups and three quasi-experimental studies. The most common forms of cold compression were ice, cold packs and cold sanitary napkins, all of which were found to signifcantly reduce postpartum perineal pain. Of the three forms, cold packs were identifed by mothers as being signifcantly more satisfactory than ice.
Based on the review’s fndings, any of the three forms of cold compression can be chosen for treatment of postpartum perineal pain, at the recommended temperature of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius for 10 to 15 minutes per session. Also, further studies of the effectiveness of cold compression in larger sample groups are recommended.
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