This study indicated that the serum magnesium level showed a significant association with LEAF presence. Hence, our study may provide information with a new and possible biomarker to predict the LEAF presence and offer a potential target for the treatment of LEAF presence.
Childbirth is a complex and highly individualized process. Long-term pain will have adverse effects on pregnant women's physiology and psychology, which will affect the delivery process and the safety of the fetus. In recent years, with the advancement of anesthesiology and the change of people's fertility awareness, more and more pregnant women have begun to adopt necessary analgesic measures to relieve labor pain and improve labor outcomes. However, LEAF presence seriously affects the promotion and application of labor analgesia technology.
In this study, 65(12.30%)participants had LEAF presence, which was lower than that reported in the previous study[4]. In clinical studies, LEAF incidence varies greatly, ranging from 1.6–46.3%[21], which may be due to different epidural drug concentrations or dose, infusion mode, and too long epidural sedation. Zhou X et al. [22] compared the different amounts with 0.075% ropivacaine and 0.125% ropivacaine combined with a 0.25 µg/ml sufentanil labor epidural analgesia, and the results showed a higher concentration of ropivacaine, the higher body temperature, and serum IL-6 level. Moreover, this study revealed that the mode of delivery (P = 0.032) and NICU admission (P = 0.002)were significantly different between the women with LEAF and without, which was similar to the previous study, Greenwell EA et al. [23]found that neonatal conditions including 1 min and 5 min Apgar scores were lower in women with LEAF than women without LEAF, and in women with LEAF, the incidence of fetal distress, intrauterine death, acidosis or hypoxemia, the rates of neonatal asphyxia, convulsions, assisted ventilation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, oxygen therapy, and transfer to the NICU after delivery are all higher than those women without LEAF.
Currently, the mechanism of fever during childbirth has not been fully revealed. LEAF presence likely has multiple causes. The non-infection response is now the most likely mechanism for triggering LEAF because intrapartum fever has inflammation and cytokine production, but there is no acute infection evidence [24]. The non-infection response occurs in the absence of pathogenic bacteria and is caused by some endogenous molecules released after tissue injury. These endogenous molecules can act through pattern recognition receptors, such as Toll-like receptors, and ultimately lead to increased secretion of pro-inflammatory factors and fever-inducing cytokines in the body[25].In many kinds of research [10–13] about LEAF presence, the increase of IL-1, IL-6, and cytokines are involved. Therefore, the growth of IL-6 secretion is closely related to the LEAF presence. However, the level of IL-6 in women during pregnancy gradually increases with the increase of gestational age and the progress of labor. It plays a vital role in maintaining normal pregnancy and labor initiation and is closely related to the intensity and frequency of contractions[26]. Therefore, IL-6 cannot be used as a specific indicator in clinical practice.
As we are known, pregnant women with LEAF presence increase adverse pregnancy outcomes for pregnant women and newborns. In this study, we demonstrated that the women with LEAF, versus those without, were more likely to had a higher incidence of gestational hypertension (9.23% vs. 3.67%) (p = 0.004) and a higher rate of cesarean delivery (p = 0.032), which is similar to previous research[6]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to clarify the specific pathophysiological mechanism of non-infectious inflammation caused by labor epidural analgesia to solve LEAF presence's possible adverse clinical outcomes. Tian et al. [27] proposed that the maternal serum IL-6 level can be reduced to reduce the rate of LEAF presence. Kopsky DJ et al. [14] used an intraspinal injection of dexamethasone to observe its effect on fever in delivery patients. The results showed that intraspinal injection of dexamethasone had a significant impact on preventing LEAF presence. However, these research methods have medical deficiencies, so they have not been certified and recommended, and further research is needed.
Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the serum magnesium level showed a significant association with LEAF presence. Magnesium sulfate has antispasmodic, vasodilatory, and direct inhibition of uterine smooth muscle contraction to prevent premature birth, so it is widely used in pregnant women with obstetric pathological pregnancy. The therapeutic dose of magnesium sulfate has no apparent adverse reactions to pregnant women and fetuses[28]. Clinical studies and animal model studies show that magnesium sulfate can lower body temperature[9, 19]. However, how magnesium sulfate affects body temperature regulation is not entirely known.
Magnesium-induced peripheral vasodilation may be thought to accelerate the drop in core temperature observed in healthy volunteers in research experimental settings[29]. In a study of 3,713 healthy postmenopausal women[30], it was found that high-magnesium dietary intake was associated with reduced systemic levels of inflammatory cytokines (such as IL-6). Therefore, magnesium may weaken the systemic inflammatory cascade, thereby decreasing the fever response during delivery.
As we knew, these are a few studies to describe this negative association between the serum magnesium level and LEAF presence. However, there are some limitations to this research. First, the specimen's size was not big enough. For a more accurate evaluation, increasing the sample size may be necessary for future studies. Second, in our research, we did not further study the relationship between the serum magnesium level and maternal and neonatal outcome, which is worth further studying.
In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the high serum magnesium level can decrease LEAF presence. We advocate serum magnesium level as a suitable biomarker to predict LEAF presence. Our products may offer a useful target for the treatment of LEAF presence and promote the further development of labor epidural analgesia.