Background: There is a more and more vivid interest regarding methods of obstetric analgesia and anesthesia while there is a lack of epidemiological data about the Italian reality. Aim of the study was to evaluate the current state of obstetric analgesia and anesthesia and create an interest for anesthesiologists in a professionally and scientifically interesting field.
Design: transversal study of clinical observation of the Italian situation based on questionnaires composed of 20 multiple choice and closed questions, addressed to chief anesthesiologists of 220 randomized Italian hospitals.
Setting: 220 Italian hospitals having a capacity of more than 100 beds.
Results: Out of the 220 questionnaires, 91 were returned. Merely 17 hospitals guaranteed a permanent peridural analgesic service. To improve this situation, anesthesiologists call for introducing chargeable services and increasing the medical staff. In spite of the widely documented advantages that regional anesthesia offers for maternal and fetal well-being, this technique is practised in only 26% of cesarean sections. This percentage is greatly higher than that obtained from a similar experience in 1991, where the use of regional anesthesia technique was of 3-4%. In 11 hospitals postoperative analgesia is not carried out on a regular basis.
Conclusions: Even though the general opinion is showing a growing interest for obstetric analgesia and anesthesia, it has not yet reached the same dignity as in other countries.