Effect of epidural analgesia on mode of delivery

Continuous epidural analgesia is considered to be the gold standard of pain relief in labour. The objective of this study was to examine the connections between epidural analgesia and the frequency of instrument-assisted deliveries. We retrospectively analysed data encompassing epidural analgesia applications during 2012 and the connections with an increased frequency of instrumental deliveries. Out of 3157 births in 2012, epidural analgesia was used in 443 (14.03 %). Epidural analgesia significantly increased the number of instrumental deliveries with vacuum extraction (χ² = 35.01; df = 1; p < 0.01) and the number of emergency caesarean sections (χ² = 18.01; df = 1; p < 0.01). A significantly higher percentage of dystocia leading to emergency caesarean sections was noted in deliveries with epidural analgesia (χ² = 6.15; df = 1; p < 0.05). An increase in instrumental delivery incidence seems to be an acceptable risk in view of epidural analgesia-related positive effects that future mothers should be informed of.