Epidural Labor Analgesia and the Incidence of Cesarean Delivery for Dystocia

Abstract

Increased epidural analgesia use did not change the overall dystocia cesarean delivery rate, although dystocia was more common among women who chose an epidural analgesia. Consequently, limiting epidural availability will not affect cesarean delivery rates. The evidence does not support advising patients that epidural labor analgesia increases the risk of cesarean delivery.

Epidural analgesia for pain relief in labour and childbirth – a review with a systematic approach

“…The authors showed that the frequency of epidural analgesia use did not predict obstetricians’ frequency of Caesarean section for dystocia. Accordingly, Fogel et al. (1998) found that the use of epidural analgesia did not show any significant association with the occurrence of dystocia as Caesarean delivery rate did not change with the availability of epidural analgesia.…”

“…Three retrospective studies on epidural analgesia and dystocia (Fogel et al. , 1998; Thompson et al.…”

“…One study was judged to be of moderate (Segal et al. , 1999) and two of high quality (Fogel et al. , 1998; Thompson et al.…”

Epidural analgesia during labor and incidence of cesarian section: prospective study

“…Several studies showed that incidence of cesarian sections did not correlate with epidural analgesia, but with maternal-fetal factors [2,3].…”

“…Numerous studies have been conducted throughout the years to clarify whether the use of the epidural has resulted in a higher incidence of cesarean sections, but it appears that this is due more to maternal-fetal factors than to the epidural [2,3].…”