Hypnotherapy, gestational age and incidence of preterm labour

PURPOSE: This study examines whether or not those women who have participated in a hypnoreflexogenous birth preparation course have a lower incidence of preterm labour and higher gestational age. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 101 women participated in the birth preparation hypnosis course (hypnomental birth preparation) and were evaluated against a parallelised control group. The following parameters were evaluated: education, number of previous pregnancies and live births, average number of cigarettes smoked per day and age of the mother. The control group was selected out of the hospital birth register from 2001 to 2008 (n=10 812). RESULTS: In the hypnosis group (n=101) there were six late preterm deliveries (5.49%) whereas in the parallelised control group there were significantly more preterm deliveries (n=11; 11.3%; p=0.02). There was also a statistically significant correlation between gestational age and maternal participation in the hypnomental birth preparation. CONCLUSION: In the hypnosis group there were significantly less preterm deliveries after parallelising the socio-economical demographics. A planned randomised controlled study of preterm labour should identify whether clinical hypnosis can reduce the incidence of preterm labour. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart, New York.

Z Geburtshilfe Neonatol. 2010 Jun;214(3):82-7. Epub 2010 Jun 23. Reinhard J, Hüsken-Janssen H, Hatzmann H, Schiermeier S. Frauenklinik der Universität Witten/Herdecke, Akademisches Lehrkrankenhaus der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Witten. j.reinhard@marien-hospital-witten.de