Incidence of epidural blood patch following obstetric regional analgesia in private Australian anaesthetic practice

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Collection of audit data about epidural blood patches has traditionally relied on voluntary reporting, which is notoriously incomplete. The records of Medicare-funded Australian private obstetric practice, which represents 30% of all deliveries, allow a novel method of central data collection and retrieval. METHOD: Data relating to all deliveries, epidurals and blood patches in private practice in Australia over a two-year period were retrieved from the Health Insurance Commission. RESULTS: The overall rate of epidural analgesia in labour was estimated at 30% and the proportion of epidurals that progressed to blood patching was 0.35%. The rate of epidural blood patching varied be..