Patterns of labor in native and immigrant population in Israel.

The application of cervical dilatation rates as a predictive index of the outcome of labor was tested among various subgroups of the Israel population. Cervical dilatation rates, gestational ages, birth weights, initial fetal head station, cervical dilatation at head engagement, and incidence of delivery problems were similar among Jewish patients, both native born and foreign; and among Arab patients. Generally, primiparas entered labor with lower fetal head station and reached head engagement with less cervical dilatation than did multiparous or grand multiparous patients. The results suggest that the rate of cervical dilatation, as measured early in the active phase of labor, can be used with equal confidence among all our population groups to forecast type of delivery. Early in the active phase of labor, women in whom the probability of a spontaneous delivery is approximately 95% can be separated from those cases in which intervention will be necessary.