A survey of anaesthesia for caesarean section.

In 1993 a postal survey of maternity hospitals within the UK was carried out to obtain data on the types of anaesthesia used for caesarean section. The poor response rate (79/226, 35%) reflects the paucity of data available in many centres. The data returned indicated a wide range of anaesthetic practice: from units with a general anaesthesia rate less than 10% to those with a general anaesthesia rate approaching 90%. Overall, during the 11-year period covered by the survey there was a significant reduction in the percentage use of general anaesthesia (77% in 1982 declining to 44% in 1992), but because of a 51% increase in the caesarean section rate the real reduction in the actual number of general anaesthetics used was modest (13%). If this holds true nationally, then factors other than a simple change from general anaesthesia to regional anaesthesia must contribute to the reduced maternal mortality from anaesthetic causes.