To assess the rate of epidural analgesia (EA) for parturition and the techniques of anaesthesia for Caesarean section (CS).
Retrospective study.
A series of 84,235 deliveries.
The series was extracted from a total of 770,054 deliveries carried out in 1991, according to the number of births in each hospital (1/1 if the births were or = 2,000 per year). The data analyzed included: anaesthesia technique, whether or not there was an anaesthetist on night duty at the hospital, birth rate in the hospital, type of hospital: university (UH), general (GH) or private (PH). For vaginal deliveries, the mode of labour commencement (spontaneous or induced), the multiplicity of pregnancies and a history of past CS were also noted.
Vaginal deliveries: the overall rate of EA was 37.2%. EA were not carried out in 5% of maternity hospitals. In cases of spontaneous labour, the average rate was 32.1%, significantly less than for induced labour (59.6%, P