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The widespread view that laboring women who receive multiple cervical examinations are at excess risk for intrapartum fever presents clinicians with a dilemma during management of labor. However, little high-quality evidence supports this perception. Investigators conducted a retrospective cohort study of singleton term births at one Midwestern teaching hospital to evaluate the correlation between intrapartum fever and number of cervical exams. Participants were afebrile on admission; maternal fever was defined as at least one recorded temperature ≥38.0°C during labor, delivery, or within 6 hours postpartum.
The 2395 women in the analysis each received between 1 and 14 cervical examinations. Of these, 174 (7.2%) developed intrapartum fever. …