[Pregnancy, labor and the neonate in pluriparas and multiparas].

From 1971 to 1988, out of 22001 deliveries (multiple pregnancies excluded) 212 (0.96%) occurred in multiparas with five or more deliveries. The control group included 7340 pluriparas (two to four deliveries) from the same period. In 82.1% cases the multiparas were para 5 and 6, and 63 (29.7%) were less than 34 years of age. 15.9% had no antenatal visit; for the most part they were housewives and rural pregnant women. Transverse presentation, preterm delivery, meconium-stained amniotic fluid, and placental lysis or uterine exploration were more frequent in the multiparous group (P less than 0.001), whereas cervical cerclage and episiotomy were more frequent in the control group (P less than 0.05). Newborn infants in the multiparous group were severely asphyxiated at birth more frequently than those in the control group (P less than 0.05). There were no differences as regards late fetal and early neonatal deaths between the two study groups. The overall perinatal death rate in the multiparas and pluriparas was 2.83% and 1.81%, respectively (P less than 0.05). There was no case of uterine rupture or maternal death in the multiparous and pluriparous group.