Peanut ball in the first stage of labor linked to less pain and shorter labor in a 110-woman trial
In a randomized trial in Türkiye, primiparous women who used a peanut ball had lower pain and anxiety and shorter active and transition phases of labor than women receiving standard care.
A randomized controlled trial in the maternity unit of a tertiary referral hospital in southeastern Türkiye tested a peanut ball during labor in first-time mothers. The results were published by Ayşe Filiz and Hatice Gül Öztaş in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth biomedcentral.com
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirthbiomedcentral.comOpen source ↗. The study ran from January 30 to May 1, 2025. In total, 114 primiparous women were randomized, 57 per group. Four discontinued participation after randomization, so 110 women, 55 per group, entered the final per-protocol analysis.
Trial design and outcomes
The intervention group received peanut-ball application during the first stage of labor, while the control group received standard care. The authors assessed four outcome domains: labor pain, labor duration, anxiety and maternal satisfaction. Data were collected with a Personal Information Form, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) and the Maternal Satisfaction Assessment Scale for Normal Birth.
Repeated VAS and SAI measurements were analyzed with generalized estimating equations. Labor duration and satisfaction were analyzed with covariate-adjusted analysis of covariance. Bonferroni adjustment was applied to time-specific pairwise comparisons of the repeated measurements. No global multiplicity adjustment was applied across the four outcome domains. Significance was set at p < 0.05, and the trial was registered as NCT06804577 on January 27, 2025.
Results and limitations
Significant group-by-time interactions were found for labor pain and state anxiety. After covariate adjustment and Bonferroni correction, VAS scores were lower in the intervention group at time points T1, T3 and T5. Differences at T2 and T4 were not statistically significant biomedcentral.com
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirthbiomedcentral.comOpen source ↗.
Adjusted SAI scores were lower in the intervention group at both the post-intervention and postpartum assessments (all p < 0.001). The adjusted durations of the active and transition phases of labor were shorter, and the adjusted mean maternal satisfaction score was higher, in the intervention group (all p < 0.001).
The authors conclude that peanut-ball use as an adjunct to routine intrapartum care was associated with lower labor pain and anxiety, shorter labor and greater satisfaction. They note baseline imbalances between groups and methodological limitations, and say the findings should be confirmed in adequately powered multicenter randomized controlled trials.
