Neonatal Metabolic Effect Of Epidural Labor Analgesia With or without Music Therapy: A prospective, Randomised, comparative study

This prospective randomized comparative study will be conducted in the Department of Anesthesiology in collaboration with Obstetrics and Gynecology at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, over 18 months. Ninety primiparous women with singleton pregnancies in active labor will be randomized (computer-generated sequence, allocation concealed by SNOSE) into two groups: Group A receiving epidural analgesia alone (ropivacaine 0.1% + fentanyl 2 µg/ml) and Group B receiving epidural analgesia with adjunct music therapy (instrumental piano, 60–80 bpm, 50–60 dB). The primary outcome will be neonatal metabolic parameters (cord blood glucose, lactate, pH, base deficit), APGAR scores at 1 and 5 minutes, and NICU admission. Secondary outcomes include maternal satisfaction and any maternal or neonatal adverse events. The target sample size is 90 (45 per group). This open-label trial is categorized as Phase N/A.