United States: Female patients who receive epidural during delivery seem to be at a lower risk of experiencing any severe postpartum complications in the first few days or weeks after delivery, as research finds.
Epidural relieves labor pain
An epidural to relieve labor pain has been found to slash the risk by 35 percent in women for side effects such as heart attack, heart failure, blood infection, or hysterectomy that may develop from delivery, researchers explain in the May 22 issue of BMJ.
The risk is even lower for those women who have ever been on a list of the risk factors for these complications like obesity, other health issues, or previous delivery, according to the researchers.
For these women, an epidural decreases the relative risk of complications by 50 percent, but only a 33 percent decrease in risk among women without such factors.
Moreover, preterm delivery amongst women cut the risk by 47 percent, the results showed.
Rachel Kearns, an anesthesiologist with Glasgow Royal University in the U.K., said, “Encouraging the adoption of, and enhancing accessibility to, epidural analgesia for women in these higher risk categories could be instrumental in improving maternal health outcomes,” as US News reported.
More about the study
In the study conducted for this purpose, data from more than 567,000 women who went into labor between 2007 and 2019 was considered.
Severe Maternal Morbidity is a condition consisting of 21 complications, which are known as severe maternal morbidity.
Still, it seems that very few women receive epidurals during delivery, doctors determined when conducting a new study.
In terms of the nationwide prevalence, the dispense of epidural in all women who delivered was only 22 percent, and only 25 percent of the women with the highest risk factors of complications were administered the epidural, as captured in the studies presented.
Epidurals may help because they minimize flare-ups of the hypothalamic stress responses that occur during labor. These women may also have more action during the childbirth process, and doctors are likely to interfere if necessary.
The lesser usage of epidurals could be attributed to prejudices that stick to their safety and necessity, as per the researchers.
The observations included the level of knowledge that might pose certain barriers to the epidural, such as the idea that it can do harm to the baby, which was refuted by previous research.
In addition, it is indicated that women have the right and the privilege to decide whether to take an epidural or not, and there is an argument for the doctors to explain to women the need to take the painkilling process during delivery.
According to the researchers, “These findings substantiate the current practice of recommending epidural analgesia during labor to women with known risk factors, underscores the importance of ensuring equitable access to such treatment, and highlights the importance of supporting women from diverse backgrounds to be able to make informed decisions relating to epidural analgesia during labor,” as US News reported.