Abstract: Objective：To evaluate the efficacy and safety of epidural anesthesia vs percutaneous electrical stimulation in delivery. Methods：Wanfang, Baidu, CNKI, VIP, Elsevier, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Springer database were searched to identify the randomized contro1led trials on epidural anesthesia (EA) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in delivery up to 2018 Feb. Two reviewers screened, extracted data and evaluated the study quality independently according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Review Manager (version 5.3) software was used to analyze the data. Results：A total of 1 715 subjects were included in 8 literatures, including 868 cases of EA group and 847 cases of TENS group. The results of systematic analysis showed that the active period of the first stage of labor in TENS group is shorter than that of EA group (MD=－84.56, 95%CI: －122.94～－46.17, P＜0.000 1), the second stage of labor is shorter (MD=－14.03, 95%CI: －21.75～－6.32, P=0.000 4), cesarean section rate is lower (RR=0.78, 95%CI: 0.64～0.96, P=0.02), vaginal assisted delivery rate is lower (RR=0.49, 95%CI: 0.35～0.68, P＜0.000 1) and the incidence of newborns asphyxial are lower (RR=0.54, 95%CI: 0.33～0.91, P=0.02), but the analgesic effect of EA on severe pain is better than that of TENS (RR=8.78, 95%CI: 3.33～23.14, P＜0.000 1). Conclusions：Epidural anesthesia has better effect on severe pain relief. We should choose it when we doubt fetal macrosomia, patients with unbearable pain, while transcutaneous electrical stimulation has lesser side-effect on both mother and child, showing good clinical application prospects.

Key words: Parturition, Analgesia, Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation, Anesthesia, epidural, Meta-analysis