Investigation of the Pregnant Women Desire to Choose the Type of Anesthesia during Cesarean Section in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Sari, Iran, in 2017

Type of anesthesia during elective cesarean is very important and is chosen according to the decision of the specialist as well as the mother’s desire. This study aimed to determine the rate and associated factors of choosing general or regional (spinal and epidural) anesthesia among pregnant women who underwent elective cesarean in hospitals of Northern Iran in 2017.

This descriptive-analytic study included the pregnant women referred to the hospitals in Sari with indications for both kinds of anesthesia. The reasons for choosing the type of anesthesia were asked and collected in a researcher-made checklist. The collected data were described and analyzed using SPSS software (version 24) through the Chi-square or Fisherchr('39')s exact tests and Logistic regression. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Out of 384 pregnant women who participated in the study, 60% and 40% of the cases chose general and regional anesthesia, respectively. Fear of spinal cord damage (64.3%) and fear of observing and hearing in the operation room (53.3%) were the most reasons for the rejection of the regional methods of anesthesia. However, the fear of not waking up (54.3%) and being interested in seeing the baby during childbirth (40.7%) were the main reasons for choosing spinal anesthesia. Most of the women who had experienced regional anesthesia selected this procedure in the current operation (53%), while general anesthesia was chosen by women without previous history of regional anesthesia (62%).

Although most of the pregnant women selected general anesthesia, the reasons for rejecting the spinal method were mainly non-scientific and could be managed with maternal education.