%0 Journal Article
%T The purple line as a measure of labourprogress: a longitudinal study
%A Ashley Shepherd
%A Helen Cheyne
%A Susan Kennedy
%A Colette McIntosh
%A Maggie Styles
%A Catherine Niven
%J BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2393-10-54
%X This longitudinal study observed 144 women either in spontaneous labour (n = 112) or for induction of labour (n = 32) from admission through to final VE. Women were examined in the lateral position and midwives recorded the presence or absence of the line throughout labour immediately before each VE. Where present, the length of the line was measured using a disposable tape measure. Within subjects correlation, chi-squared test for independence, and independent samples t-test were used to analyse the data.The purple line was seen at some point in labour for 109 women (76%). There was a medium positive correlation between length of the purple line and cervical dilatation (r = +0.36, n = 66, P = 0.0001) and station of the fetal head (r = +0.42, n = 56, P < 0.0001).The purple line does exist and there is a medium positive correlation between its length and both cervical dilatation and station of the fetal head. Where the line is present, it may provide a useful guide for clinicians of labour progress along side other measures. Further research is required to assess whether measurement of the line is acceptable to women in labour and also clinicians.There are a number of ways of measuring progress in labour including assessment of contractions, descent and position of the fetal head by abdominal palpation and assessment of cervical dilatation by vaginal examination (VE). VE is currently considered to be the gold standard for assessment of labour progress [1], however there are a number of problems associated with this examination. Studies to assess the accuracy of the digital examination of the cervix are limited but those that do exist suggest that the assessment is imprecise. Some studies [2,3] have used hard cervical models in which the cervix is fixed in position to measure the accuracy of midwives and obstetricians in measuring cervical dilatation. They reported an overall accuracy for determining the exact cervical diameter of between 48.6% and 56.3% which improve
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/10/54