Objective To investigate the application effect of programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) in labor analgesia and its influence on the levels of maternal body temperature, serum T helper cells (Th)1/Th2 cytokines and pain factors. Methods A total of 198 primiparae who were expecting to undergo epidural labor analgesia in Cangzhou People's Hospital from January 2021 to December 2022 were selected and divided into the observation group and the control group according to random number table method, with 99 cases in each group. PIEB mode was used for epidural analgesia in the observation group, while continuous epidural infusion (CEI) mode was used in the control group, the analgesic drugs were 0.08% ropivacaine hydrochloride injection+0.4 mg/L sufentanil citrate injection+0.9% sodium chloride injection. Record general information of maternal bady. Maternal Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate, and fetal heart rate were compared between the two groups at the time points before analgesia (T1), 1 h (T2), 2 h (T3), 3 h (T4), 4 h (T5), 5 h (T6) after analgesia and immediately after delivery (T7). Maternal body temperature at T1‒T7 and 2 h (T8) after delivery and the levels of serum Th1/Th2 cytokines [tumor necrosis factor‑α (TNF‑α), interleukin (IL)‑1β, IL‑10] in T1 and T7 were detected. The first time of analgesic pump compression, the number of compression times, the total dosage of ropivacaine and sufentanil, and the Apgar score of newborns in 1 min and 5 min were compared between the two groups. Duration of labor, use of oxytocin, forceps, lateral perineal incision, postpartum bleeding>500 ml, the occurrence of adverse reactions (skin pruritus, hypotension, urine retention, nausea, and vomiting, etc.) were compared between the two groups. Results Compared with the scores at T1: the VAS scores of the two groups were low at T2‒T7 (all P<0.05); the MAP of the control group was low at T3‒T8 (all P<0.05), and that of the observation group at T3‒T6 and T8 (all P<0.05); the heart rates of both groups were low at T2‒T8 (all P<0.05); at time points T2‒T6, the fetal heart rate was low in both groups (all P<0.05); at the time point T7, the serum levels of TNF‑α and IL‑1β were high (all P<0.05), and the serum levels of IL‑10 were low (all P<0.05). The VAS scores in the observation group were lower than the scores of the control group at T3‒T7 (all P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the fever rates of observation group were low at T5‒T8 (all P<0.05). At time point T7, the serum levels of TNF‑α and IL‑1β of patients in the observation group were lower than the levels in the control groups (all P<0.05), whereas serum levels of IL‑10 in patients of the observation group were higher than the levels in the control group (P<0.05). The average first compression time of the analgesic pump in the observation group was later than the time of the control group (P<0.05), while the average number of compression times, and the dosage of ropivacaine and sufentanil of the observation group were less than the parameters of the control group (all P<0.05). The lateral resection rate of the perineum in the observation group was also lower than the rate of the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant difference in other indexes between the two groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions PIEB mode applied to epidural labor analgesia can effectively improve the analgesic effect, reduce maternal fever during childbirth, moderately maintain the balance of Th1/Th2 cytokines in the body, decrease the dosage of narcotic analgesic drugs, and reduce the rate of lateral perineal incision.