Untimely and ineffectively treated breech or transverse lie position of a fetus may increase the rate of cesarean section, and the risk of uterine rupture and other serious childbirth complications, endangering the lives of mothers and newborns. However, at present, there is no conclusion on the effectiveness and selection priority of different interventions for it during childbirth.

To perform a network meta-analysis of the impact of different interventions for breech or transverse lie position on maternal and neonatal outcomes.

We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, CBM, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effects of different interventions for breech or transverse lie position on maternal and neonatal outcomes from inception to March 2022. Two researchers independently completed literature screening and data extraction, and quality assessment. R 4.1.1 and Stata 16.0 were used for data analysis and graph drawing. Consistency test and convergence analysis of the studies were performed. SUCRA was used to rank the effectiveness of each intervention and determine the most effective one.

A total of 36 RCTs were included, including 7 419 parturients. The interventions involved were: knee-chest position, moxibustion/stimulation of Zhiyin acupoint, and external cephalic version (ECV) under different types of uterine contraction inhibitors/anesthesia. Network meta-analysis showed that compared with moxibustion/stimulation to Zhiyin acupoint, the success rate of moving a breech or transverse lie position to a head position was lower by usual nursing〔RR=0.54, 95%CI (0.32, 0.86) , P<0.05〕. The success rate of moving a breech or transverse lie position to a head position without uterine contraction inhibitor before ECV was lower than that using β₂-adrenergic receptor agonists〔RR=0.60, 95%CI (0.38, 0.62) , P<0.05〕. The vaginal delivery rate with calcium channel blockers but without uterine contraction inhibitors was lower than that using β₂-adrenergic receptor agonists〔RR=0.60, 95%CI (0.39, 0.89) , P<0.05; RR=0.60, 95%CI (0.39, 0.95) , P<0.05〕. The success rate of moving a breech or transverse lie position to a head position by ECV without anesthesia was lower than that using intravenous anesthesia〔RR=0.71, 95%CI (0.53, 0.96) , P<0.05〕 or intraspinal anesthesia〔RR=0.65, 95%CI (0.49, 0.85) , P<0.05〕. Compared with non-anesthesia, the use of intravenous anesthesia and intraspinal anesthesia during ECV could reduce the post-ECV pain score〔WMD=-1.97, 95%CI (-2.49, -1.46) , P<0.05; WMD=-3.80, 95%CI (-5.10, -2.50) , P<0.05〕. The three top interventions for terms of effectiveness ranked by SUCRA were: moxibustion/stimulation to Zhiyin acupoint, the use of β₂-adrenergic receptor agonists to suppress uterine contractions before ECV, and the use of spinal anesthesia during ECV.

Based on the results of network meta-analysis and SUCRA ranking, moxibustion/stimulation to Zhiyin acupoint, the use of β₂-adrenergic receptor agonists to inhibit uterine contractions before ECV, and the implementation of ECV under spinal anesthesia for moving a breech or transverse lie position to a head position during late pregnancy have a good effect on improving the maternal and neonatal outcomes, but this conclusion still needs to be further verified by more high-quality, large-sample studies.