Objective To analyze the effect of two painless delivery methods including epidural block anesthesia and percutaneous nerve electrical stimulation and their effect on neonatal outcomes.

Methods Ninety-two primiparous women were collected and randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 46 cases in each group. The control group received epidural block anesthesia for painless delivery, while the observation group received percutaneous nerve electrical stimulation. The duration of labor, pain score during labor, delivery method, uterine contraction, maternal and neonatal outcomes were compared between the two groups.

Results The time of the first stage of labor, second stage of labor and total stage of labor in the observation group was significantly shorter than that in the control group (P ＜ 0.01), and there was no significant difference in the time of the third stage of labor between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05). There was no significant difference in VAS scores between the two groups before analgesia (P ＞ 0.05); the VAS scores at the uterine opening 5-6 cm, 7-8 cm, and fully in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.01). The difference in delivery methods between the two groups of postpartum women was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05). The vaginal delivery rate was higher than that in the control group, and the cesarean section rate in the observation group was lower than that in the control group. There was no significant difference in the duration and interval of uterine contractions between the two groups before analgesia (P ＞ 0.05), and the duration and interval of uterine contractions at the uterine opening 5-6 cm and fully in the observation group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.01). The total incidence of postpartum complications in the observation group was 4.35% (2/46), which was significantly lower than that of 23.91% (11/46) in the control group (P ＜ 0.01). There was no significant difference in the incidence of neonatal complications and Apgar scores at 1, 5, and 10 minutes after delivery between the two groups (P ＞ 0.05).

Conclusions The analgesic effect of transcutaneous electrical stimulation in painless delivery is slightly inferior to that of epidural anesthesia, but percutaneous electrical stimulation can shorten the labor process, has no inhibitory effect on uterine contraction, helps to reduce the incidence of complications such as postpartum hemorrhage and urinary retention, and has more advantages in safety.