The rates of epidural use will vary greatly from hospital to hospital in Australia. This may reflect the availability of anaesthetists at the hospital and whether epidurals are on hand for reasons of pain relief. Where epidurals are readily available, the rates can range from less than 3.7% up to 78.6%.
These figures can reflect the social and cultural approaches of women attending the hospital, and how strongly epidurals are encouraged by the caregivers.
Information sources
Banister, C. 1997 Midwife's Pharmacopeia, Books for Midwives Press, Cheshire, England.
Fraser WD, Marcoux S, Krauss I, Douglas J, Goulet C, Boulvain M, Multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of delayed pushing for nulliparous women in the second stage of labor with continuous epidural analgesia. The PEOPLE (Pushing Early or Pushing Late with Epidural) Study Group. Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Laval University, the Faculty of Nursing, Canada.
Choi JH; Lee J; Choi JH; Bishop MJ Epidural naloxone reduces pruritus and nausea without affecting analgesia by epidural morphine in bupivacaine. 2000 Jan Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia.
Harmon D; Ryan M; Kelly A; Bowen M Acupressure and prevention of nausea and vomiting during and after spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2000 April, 84 (4), pp 463-7.
Howell CJ. Epidural versus non-epidural analgesia for pain relief in labour (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2001. Oxford: Update Software.
Loughnan BA, Carli F, Romney M, Dore C, Gordon H. The influence of epidural analgesia on the development of new backache in primiparous women: report of a randomised controlled trial. Int J Obstetrics Anesthesia 1997; 6:203-4.
Philip J, Alexander JM, Ramin SM, Sharma SK, McIntire DD, Leveno KJ. Epidural analgesia during labor may be an independent source of maternal fever. Am J Obset Gynecol 1997; 178:175.
Priest J. and Attawell K. 1996, Drugs in Conception, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Thorsons, London.
Public Health Division. New South Wales Mothers and Babies 2000 Report, Vol. 12, Number S-3, November 2001, Sydney, NSW Health Department.
Richardson DK; Frigoletto FD; Heffner LJ; Cohen A, 2000 Intrapartum maternal fever and neonatal outcome, Pediatrics, Vol 105,1,pp.8-13.
Sharma SK, Sidawi JE, Ramin SM, Lucas MJ, Leveno KJ, Cunningham FG. A randomised trial of Epidural versus Patient-controlled Meperidine Analgesia during Labour. Anesthesiology 1997;87(3):487-94.
Thalme B, Belfrage P, Raabe N. Lumbar epidural analgesia in labour: I. Acid-base balance and clinical condition of mother, fetus and newborn child. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 1974;53:27-35.
Vallejo MC, Mandell GL, Sabo DP, Ramanathan S Postdural puncture headache: a randomized comparison of five spinal needles in obstetric patients. Anesthesia and Analgesia, 2000 Oct, 91(4), pp.916-20.
Yerby, M. (Ed) 2000 Pain in Childbearing, Key issues in Management, Bailliere Tindall, Edinburgh.