Factors associated with postpartum shivering. a cross-sectional study

The objective of this study was to investigate the postpartum shivering phenomenon. We carried out a cross-sectional study on a sample of 597 pregnant women. Logistic regression analyses were built. Independent variables were: parity, labour induction with prostaglandin agonist, oxytocin infusion during labour, amniotomy, epidural anaesthesia, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), postpartum fever, gestational age, mode of birth. Dependent variables were: mild shivering, severe shivering (severity of shivering) and shivering lasting: less than 30 minutes; between 30 minutes and one hour; more than one hour (duration of shivering). We found that both severity and duration of postpartum shivering phenomenon were associated with rupture of membranes (spontaneous or artificial), fever, caesarean section and oxytocin infusion. The conclusion reached was that those associations could be logically explained by already-known causes of chills. Further studies should assess those causes after birth. © 2016 Medical Education Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.