Satisfaction, control and pain relief: short- and long-term assessments in a randomised controlled trial of low-dose and traditional epidurals and a non-epidural comparison group

Abstract Background Childbirth is an important life event for which a positive experience is important to many women. Methods As secondary outcomes from the randomised controlled Comparative Obstetric Mobile Epidural Trial, various aspects of satisfaction were assessed in women who had one of three types of regional analgesia (two of which were low-dose techniques and a high-dose control using 0.25% epidural bupivacaine) and a comparison group who did not have epidural analgesia, shortly after delivery and 12 months later. Results The predominant finding was satisfaction with spontaneous vaginal delivery whatever the mode of analgesia. The overall immediate and long-term satisfaction was similar for all three neuraxial techniques. Satisfaction with the speed of pain relief and the amount of mobility were significantly greater for the combined spinal-epidural technique compared with the low-dose infusion ( P P P Conclusions Whilst satisfaction with the experience of childbirth appears intimately related to the attainment of a spontaneous delivery, mobile epidurals enhance women's feeling of control in labour and are popular for future choice of regional analgesia.