Labor analgesia in Czech Republic and Slovakia: a 2015 national survey

Background: The purpose of this international survey was to describe the current practices and techniques of labor analgesia in the Czech Republic (CZE) and Slovakia (SVK).

Methods: All Czech and Slovak departments that provide obstetric anesthesia were invited to participate in a one-month (November 2015) prospective study that monitored in detail all peripartum anesthetic procedures delivered by anesthesiologists. Participating centers recorded all data on-line in the CLADE-IS database (Masaryk University, CZE).

Results: The response rate was 71% (70 of 95 departments in CZE, 35 of 54 centers in SVK). Participating centers represented 87.7% of all births in CZE and 66.4% of all births in SVK during the study period. Analgesia for labor, administered by anesthesiologists, was recorded in 12.5% of deliveries (CZE 12.1%, SVK 13.4%). Epidural analgesia was used in most of the cases (CZE 97.2%, SVK 99.1%) whereas spinal (CZE 1.4%, SVK 0.9%) or combined spinal-epidural (CZE 0.5%, SVK 0.0%) and intravenous remifentanil analgesia (CZE 2.4%, SVK 0.0%) were used infrequently. One fifth of the labors with analgesia administered by anesthesiologists (CZE 20.2%, SVK 20.5%) terminated in cesarean section.

Conclusions: Although labor analgesia was available in all Czech and Slovak obstetric centers, only a small proportion of parturients received an effective method of labor pain relief (regional or intravenous analgesia).