Epidurals do not lead to more caesarean sections, study shows

Combined spinal and epidural analgesia given early in labour is no more likely than systemic opioid analgesia to be associated with delivery by caesarean section, according to a US study published this week. But it does provide better pain relief and shorter duration of labour, the research showed.

The study, carried out by a group at Northwestern University, Chicago, looked at 750 nulliparous women who went into labour spontaneously at full term, with cervical dilation less than 4 cm (New England Journal of Medicine 2005;352:655-65). The researchers recruited the women by approaching all healthy women with term, singleton pregnancies who presented in spontaneous labour, or with spontaneous rupture of membranes, at one hospital (Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago) …