Spinal anesthesia in young adults

: In a prospective study, 69 young adults, range 19-28 years, were given spinal anesthesia. Three patients developed postspinal puncture headache and three patients experienced transient backache. No other complications were observed. The results indicate that spinal anesthesia may be used even in young adults. This seems to contrast with the practice in most other Norwegian hospitals, where spinal anesthesia is given mainly to patients older than 40 years of age, based on the notion that the frequency of postspinal puncture headache is unproportionally high in younger patients.