Anesthesia During Childbirth Seen Very Safe

The odds of a woman dying from the anesthesia she may be given during childbirth have fallen to about one in a million, according to a study described at the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

The new finding “should be very reassuring for women,” Dr. Joy L. Hawkins, professor of anesthesiology at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, who led the study, told.

“Anesthetic deaths are a very rare cause of maternal mortality in the United States, but even one death is important and should be prevented,” she said.

An analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ongoing Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance project for 1997 through 2002 suggest that anesthetic deaths hover around 1.1 maternal deaths per million live births, Hawkins told the conference.

Over the 6-year study period, a total of 49 pregnancy-related deaths due to anesthesia were reported. Thirty-one were associated with live births or still births and 16 were associated with abortion; one was an ectopic pregnancy and one had missing information.

Eighty percent of the anesthesia-related deaths during childbirth were associated with cesarean delivery.

Six of the anesthesia-related deaths occurred during general anesthesia and 18 during local or regional anesthesia — for example, an epidural or spinal block. In seven cases, the type of anesthesia was unknown.

Read more at Reuters