Open AccessPredictors of Recommendation and Acceptance of Intrapartum Epidural Analgesia
Author(s) -
Eyal Sheiner,
Einat K Sheiner,
Ilana ShohamVardi,
Gabriel M. Gurman,
Fernanda Press,
Moshe Mazor,
Miriam Katz
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
anesthesia and analgesia/anesthesia and analgesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1526-7598
pISSN - 0003-2999
DOI - 10.1097/00000539-200001000-00024
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesia , obstetrics
We conducted this prospective study to characterize the obstetric and sociodemographic variables that predict physicians' recommendations and patients' acceptance of intrapartum epidural analgesia. The study population consisted of 447 consecutive, low-risk parturients in early active labor. Epidural analgesia was recommended to 393 patients (87.9%), however only 164 (41.7%) consented to receive it. A multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the severity of pain, as assessed by the medical staff (odds ratio [OR] = 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13, 1.93), low parity (OR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.44, 0.74), and low maternal age (OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.79, 0.99) were significant factors affecting recommendations of epidural analgesia. In a multivariate analysis, severity of subjective pain (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.16, 1.68), low parity (OR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.73, 0.99), high education (OR = 90.09, 95% CI 27.02,257.06), and the patients' being secular compared with religious (OR = 2.14, 95% CI 1.08,4.21) were found to be independent predictors of acceptance of epidural analgesia. There are differences between patients offered and those not offered epidural analgesia and between parturients who accept and those who do not accept this analgesia.